What is a robotaxi? A plain-English guide to driverless ride-hailing

The short answer

A robotaxi is a car you hail in an app, as you would an Uber, except software does all of the driving. It only works in places and conditions it has been built and approved for.

The common yardstick is SAE J3016, a standard that sets out six levels of driving automation. Its levels have reached "mainstream and official recognition," the ANSI Blog notes. At Level 2, the car can steer and control speed, but the driver is expected to watch the road and supervise the system. At Level 4, the system does the entire driving task within its "operational design domain," "without any expectation that a user will respond to a request to intervene." That domain means "the specific conditions under which a given driving automation system or feature thereof is designed to function." Level 5 is "sustained and unconditional" performance of the entire driving task, not limited to an operational design domain. [1]

Under those definitions, a car that drives with nobody expected to take over, but only inside a set domain, is Level 4. [1]

Who runs them today

Waymo, Alphabet's robotaxi company, leads U.S. rivals Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox, CNBC reported. In December 2025 it passed 450,000 weekly paid rides and said it had served 14 million trips that year. Those are company figures. [2] When it opened in Miami in January 2026, it hired fleet company Moove for "vehicle charging, cleaning and repairs," CNBC reported. That shows a business side owners rarely see: someone still has to charge, clean and fix the cars. [2] See Waymo in Miami.

In August 2026, California's utilities regulator approved Waymo's expansion across 18 counties, the Los Angeles Times reported. The approval followed Waymo's launch of its new vehicle, the Ojai. [3] China flag: Ojai is the new name for Waymo's Zeekr robotaxi, TechCrunch reported. Zeekr is a Chinese automaker owned by Geely Holding Group. [4] See Waymo's California approval.

Zoox, owned by Amazon, opened free rides to the public on the Las Vegas Strip in September 2025, with pickups at five set destinations. [5] Zoox said it would begin charging Aug. 10, 2026, and that it had carried "nearly 1 million" riders across four cities since the free launch. That is a company claim. [6] See Zoox's paid rides.

Tesla started in Austin in June 2025 with invited riders only and a Tesla employee in the front passenger seat as a "safety monitor," TechCrunch reported. Musk said the initial fleet would include about ten Model Y SUVs, according to TechCrunch. [7] In January 2026, Tesla said there were "a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in" with the rest of the fleet. [8] See Tesla's Austin launch and rides without a monitor.

Baidu's Apollo Go: Baidu said cumulative public rides exceeded 22 million as of April 2026, a company claim. China flag: Baidu is a Chinese company, mentioned for scale only. [9]

What has gone wrong

Safety record claims come from the operator. A study with insurer Swiss Re, published by Waymo, covered 25.3 million miles and found 88% fewer property-damage claims and 92% fewer bodily-injury claims than human drivers. Waymo ran the study with Swiss Re and published the results itself, so treat the figures as company claims. [10] See the Swiss Re study.

Recalls happen in software. Waymo recalled software on 3,067 vehicles over the way its cars behaved around stopped school buses, according to its recall report to federal safety regulator NHTSA. [11] See the school-bus recall.

Cities break in ways maps don't show. During a December 2025 power outage in San Francisco, Waymo paused service, CNBC reported. [12] Waymo said its cars crossed "more than 7,000" dark traffic signals that day. [13] See the blackout.

Trust can end a company. Cruise, GM's robotaxi unit, agreed to pay a $500,000 criminal fine after admitting it submitted a false report to influence a federal investigation, the Justice Department said. [14] NHTSA separately set a $1.5 million civil penalty. [15] GM later stopped funding robotaxi work, and GM's CEO said it had invested about $10 billion in Cruise, The Verge reported. [16][17] See the false report and GM pulling funding.

What it means for owners and operators

Check the domain, not the headline. A Level 4 car only drives itself inside its operational design domain. [1]
Ask who is in the car. Tesla launched with an employee in the passenger seat. [7]
Read the regulator's file. Recalls and penalties are public at NHTSA. [11][15]
Weigh the supply chain. Waymo's Ojai, which it began rolling out in 2026, is made by Chinese automaker Zeekr. [3][4]

For the wider category of machines that act in the real world, see What is physical AI?

Sources

Brad Kelechava, The ANSI Blog, “SAE Levels of Driving Automation” (summary of SAE J3016-2021), July 19, 2021 (updated June 4, 2025). blog.ansi.org
Lora Kolodny, CNBC, “Waymo launches robotaxi service in Miami, extending U.S. lead,” Jan. 22, 2026. cnbc.com
Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times, “Waymo wins approval for drastic expansion in L.A., Bay Area regions,” Aug. 14, 2026. latimes.com
Kirsten Korosec, TechCrunch, “Waymo is rebranding its Zeekr robotaxi,” Jan. 7, 2026. techcrunch.com
Kirsten Korosec, TechCrunch, “Zoox opens its Las Vegas robotaxi service to the public,” Sept. 10, 2025. techcrunch.com
Annie Palmer, CNBC, “Amazon's Zoox to launch paid robotaxi service in Las Vegas on Aug. 10,” Aug. 5, 2026. cnbc.com
Sean O'Kane and Kirsten Korosec, TechCrunch, “Tesla launches robotaxi rides in Austin with big promises and unanswered questions,” June 22, 2025. techcrunch.com
Rebecca Bellan, TechCrunch, “Tesla launches robotaxi rides in Austin with no human safety driver,” Jan. 22, 2026. techcrunch.com
Baidu, Inc., “Baidu Announces First Quarter 2026 Results,” PR Newswire, May 18, 2026. prnewswire.com
Waymo, The Waymo Team, “New Swiss Re study: Waymo is safer than even the most advanced human-driven vehicles,” Dec. 19, 2024. waymo.com
Waymo LLC, Part 573 Safety Recall Report 25E084, submitted Dec. 10, 2025. static.nhtsa.gov
Lora Kolodny and Mike Winters, CNBC, “Waymo resumes robotaxi service in San Francisco after blackout chaos — Musk says Tesla car service unaffected,” Dec. 21, 2025. cnbc.com
Waymo, “Autonomously navigating the real world: lessons from the PG&E outage,” Dec. 23, 2025. waymo.com
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California, “Cruise Admits To Submitting A False Report To Influence A Federal Investigation And Agrees To Pay $500,000,” Nov. 14, 2024. justice.gov
NHTSA, “NHTSA Announces Consent Order with Cruise After Company Failed to Fully Report Crash Involving Pedestrian,” Sept. 30, 2024. nhtsa.gov
General Motors, “GM to refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles,” Dec. 10, 2024. investor.gm.com
Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, “Cruise's robotaxi service will shut down as GM pulls its funding,” Dec. 10, 2024. theverge.com