Nobody behind the wheel: Waymo unveils Charlotte expansion for driverless taxis
Driverless cars are coming to Charlotte, Waymo confirmed Wednesday, in the form of the company’s white robotaxis.
The subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet operates the autonomous ride-hailing service in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Now, Charlotte becomes Waymo’s next stop.
Waymo’s vehicles will be manually driven by humans around Charlotte’s uptown core as they get familiar with the city’s roads, the company said. The fleet and driving area will expand gradually over time, according to Waymo. Exact locations were not provided by Waymo.
It will use a phased approach similar to other cities. This includes manual driving leading to autonomous driving with a trained specialist behind the wheel, followed by fully autonomous operations.
The program begins Wednesday, Feb. 25, for Charlotte. Waymo did not provide a timeline for its fully autonomous operations.
The company’s white, fully electric Jaguars were spotted in a gravel lot near Panthers practice fields in uptown Tuesday. A dozen Waymo vehicles are lined up in the back of the parking lot on the dead-end McNinch Street.
Waymo marks new era for Charlotte
State and city leaders praised the local expansion for the business headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area.
We are eager to see how Waymo’s expansion into Charlotte can increase accessibility, modernize transportation and create safer roads,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a news release.
Mayor Vi Lyles said Charlotte is a city that embraces innovation. “We believe Charlotte is an excellent choice for Waymo’s next destination,” Lyles said.
Waymo said its self-driving cars are safer than people behind the wheel, based on more than 127 million miles of driving. The company reports its vehicles are involved in 10 times fewer crashes that cause serious injuries and 12 times fewer crashes involving pedestrians than human drivers in the same places.
After giving more than 20 million rides, Waymo said that experience helps its cars quickly adjust to the traffic habits of new cities, offering a more dependable way to get around.
Waymo controversies and crashes
Waymo’s service has faced some controversy around the country.
Federal crash data indicated that Waymo vehicles were involved in at least 202 crashes in Arizona between 2021 and 2024, from minor scrapes to 31 crashes that resulted in injuries, the Arizona’s Family news outlet reported. But the records are heavily redacted and do not indicate who was at fault.
In December, NPR reported on Waymo’s plan for a voluntary software recall after several reports that its self-driving taxis illegally passed stopped school buses.
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About Waymo driverless taxis
Waymo is growing its robotaxi service. It’s now available through Uber in Austin and Atlanta, and it’s also expanding in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Boston and Sacramento. As of December 2025, the company is providing more than 450,000 rides every week.
Additional information is available at waymo.com/updates.
The cost of an average Waymo ride is about $20 per trip, according to Google. The Waymo company was established under Alphabet in 2016.
Another auto company makes a splash in Charlotte
The announcement comes add on the heels of another major vehicle announcement for Charlotte.
Scout Motors, an American subsidiary of Germany-based Volkswagen, is making Charlotte its new corporate headquarters with a $207 million investment and a promise to create more than 1,200 high-paying jobs, the company announced in December. The site is at the Commonwealth development in Plaza Midwood.
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
