Waymo Opens Driverless Rides to the Public in Nashville

Waymo's robotaxi service is now live in Nashville. On Tuesday, the autonomous ride-hailing company opened up to the first public riders in Music City, and will expand to more people "on a rolling basis," Waymo said in a blog post.

Interested riders can hail a self-driving vehicle by downloading the Waymo app and waiting for an invite. Waymo says its cars will also become available on the Lyft app later this year, which should help to expand access. Lyft will also manage the robotaxi fleet, including vehicle maintenance and cleaning.

Watch this: Testing Waymo's Safe Exit Feature in a Self-Driving Taxi

05:29

Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent Alphabet, is available to members of the public in 10 other metro areas: Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. The company plans to expand to dozens of other cities in the coming months and years. Nashville is the first city in Tennessee where riders can hail a Waymo. 

"By leveraging private sector technologies like Waymo's fully autonomous vehicles, we're expanding mobility in ways we couldn't achieve on our own and further accelerating economic growth," Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said in a statement.

Waymo's Nashville launch covers 60 square miles.

Waymo

At launch, Waymo's service area extends across 60 square miles of Nashville. That includes the neighborhoods of Midtown, 12 South, East Nashville and Broadway. Waymo says it's also testing its driverless operations at Nashville International Airport and plans to "serve travelers there in the near future." The company currently operates out of four international airports: Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, San Jose Mineta International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and San Antonio International Airport.

With some members of the public wary of self-driving vehicles, especially after a string of high-profile incidents, Waymo often touts its safety data. The company says that over 170 million autonomous miles driven through December 2025, "compared to human drivers, we achieved a 13-fold reduction in crashes that involved serious injury or worse and the same reduction in crashes that involved injuries with pedestrians."

After downloading the Waymo app, the company says anyone interested in riding in Nashville should "keep an eye on our social channels for access codes to skip the line."