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Waymo and Cruise are not two robotaxi services you can choose between today. Waymo operates public, fully autonomous rides in selected U.S. areas; General Motors says it stopped funding Cruise robotaxi development and began winding down those operations in 2025. A useful comparison now is Waymo’s active service against Cruise’s history and GM’s shift toward autonomy for personal vehicles.
Are Waymo and Cruise both operating robotaxi services?
No. Waymo currently offers public, fully autonomous ride-hailing in selected U.S. service areas. GM announced in December 2024 that it would stop funding Cruise robotaxi development, and its 2025 annual-report material says Cruise robotaxi operations began winding down in February 2025. GM combined the ongoing technical work with its personal-vehicle autonomy effort.
That means Cruise is not a current public ride option comparable to Waymo. The companies’ present-day roles differ: Waymo operates a ride service, while GM’s stated direction is to apply autonomy and advanced driver-assistance work to personal vehicles. Those assistance features are not the same as a driverless robotaxi ride.
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How can you book a Waymo ride?
Waymo says its ride-hailing service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the areas it serves. Riders can book through the Waymo app. In Austin and Atlanta, Waymo identifies Uber as the only booking channel. Check the Waymo service-area page for the current coverage and booking options at your exact location; service in a city does not necessarily mean every neighborhood is covered or that access is immediately open to everyone.
In a September 1, 2026 announcement, Waymo said riders were being gradually welcomed in Denver, Tampa, and San Diego. That is a dated rollout update, not a guarantee of immediate access across those cities. Availability and onboarding can change, so the live service-area page is the practical source to check before planning a ride.
Source: Waymo Help: service areas and rider access.
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What does Waymo provide: a car or a driving system?
Waymo’s service combines a vehicle with the Waymo Driver, its hardware-and-software autonomous-driving system. Its FAQ lists electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles and the Ojai, a vehicle designed for autonomous ride-hailing. The named system hardware includes lidar, cameras, radar, and AI compute.
These are distinct parts of the service: the vehicle carries riders, while the Waymo Driver supplies the autonomous-driving capability. Waymo’s FAQ does not establish that every city uses the same vehicle mix on every date.
Source: Waymo FAQ.
What does the safety evidence say—and not say?
Waymo’s 2026 company analysis reports more than 270 million fully autonomous miles through the end of June 2026 across Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Against human-driver benchmarks, Waymo reports an 82% reduction in injury-causing crashes and 95% fewer crashes involving serious injury or worse.
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Those are Waymo’s own reported comparisons, tied to its stated mileage, period, cities, and benchmark. They are not an independent head-to-head test of Waymo against Cruise, and the cited company analysis does not independently validate Waymo’s claims. Because Cruise no longer operates a comparable public robotaxi service, these figures also do not compare current service exposure between the two companies.
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Source: Waymo’s safety analysis.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why did Cruise stop offering robotaxi rides?
Cruise’s 2023 crisis is important historical context, but it is not the same event as GM’s later decision about the business. The Associated Press reported on California’s license action, regulators’ concerns, and Cruise’s voluntary nationwide pause in 2023. GM’s subsequent official statements describe the later change in strategy: in December 2024 it said it would stop funding Cruise robotaxi development, and its 2025 annual-report material says operations began winding down in February 2025.
GM said it would combine most of its and Cruise’s technical teams and focus the work on personal vehicles. The 2023 suspension helps explain the company’s history; GM’s later announcements establish the current status and strategic shift.
Sources: Associated Press coverage of Cruise’s 2023 suspension, GM’s December 2024 announcement, and GM annual reports and proxy materials.
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