Waymo and Zoox are rapidly expanding paid robotaxi services across the United States, intensifying competition in autonomous transportation. Waymo averages roughly 500,000 paid rides a week across 11 metropolitan areas, equivalent to about 26 million trips annually. Zoox began charging passengers in Las Vegas on August 10 with approximately 65 vehicles after receiving July 30 approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. vehicle-safety regulator, to deploy up to 2,500 purpose-built robotaxis without steering wheels each year for two years. The Amazon-owned company also plans to enter Austin and Miami and quadruple its San Francisco service area. Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving subsidiary, introduced its latest Ojai generation robotaxi to paying riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix in late August, initially deploying roughly 300 vehicles. Its Nevada authorization allows up to 1,000 vehicles in Clark County. Tesla is also developing an autonomous ride-sharing program based on camera systems and over-the-air updates to customer-owned vehicles, contrasting with the dedicated fleets and sensor arrays used by Waymo and Zoox. Neither Waymo nor Zoox has disclosed whether its robotaxi operations are profitable.