Robotaxis Roll Out But Still Mostly Just Fancy Glorified Waiting Rooms

KEY POINTS

•Waymo operates fully driverless robotaxis in 5 cities with plans to expand to 15 more by 2026.
•Uber and Lyft incorporate robotaxis from Waymo and other companies selectively but with limited fleets.
•Tesla runs small robotaxi services with human safety riders in Austin and San Francisco, with expansion to Phoenix expected.
•Amazon's Zoox, Toyota’s May Mobility, Hyundai’s Motional, and Uber’s Nuro are each testing robotaxi services in various stages.

Forget flying cars, we're stuck marveling at robotaxis that shuffle around Atlanta, Austin, L.A., Phoenix, and San Francisco, proving the future is mostly just less awkward small talk. Waymo, the Alphabet overlord of autonomous rides, runs solo fleets in five cities, planning to invade 15 more by 2026—because who doesn't want their commute dominated by a Google sibling? Uber and Lyft dabble with robotaxis too, but the fleets are so tiny even Elon Musk's Tesla has 'shifting goalposts' in Austin and San Francisco, where humans still clutch steering wheels nervously. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Zoox, Toyota’s May Mobility, Hyundai’s Motional, and Uber’s Nuro are playing futuristic peek-a-boo in test phases, reminding us that robotaxi hype is real, but real rides remain scrubbed by a human babysitter.