Robotaxis and Autonomous Vehicles

Driverless passenger service on public roads in the US, China and the Gulf.

Paid driverless rides now run at fleet scale in the US, China and the Gulf, and regulators in both the US and China added operator duties in 2026 after incidents. China froze new robotaxi permits after Apollo Go cars stalled in Wuhan on March 31, 2026; California now requires fleets to clear an emergency zone within two minutes.

Driverless robotaxi fleet by operator: Waymo 4,000+ · Sep 2026; Pony.ai 1,975 · Jun 2026; WeRide 1,800+ · Jul 2026; Apollo Go 1,000+ · May 2025. Tesla does not disclose a fleet count DRIVERLESS ROBOTAXI FLEET BY OPERATOR Waymo 4,000+ · Sep 2026 Pony.ai 1,975 · Jun 2026 WeRide 1,800+ · Jul 2026 Apollo Go 1,000+ · May 2025 VEHICLES, LATEST DISCLOSED TESLA DOES NOT DISCLOSE A FLEET COUNT
Waymo paid rides a week
500,000+
Apollo Go driverless rides, Q1 2026
3.2M+
Waymo US cities
14
Registry incidents
6

Deployments

Waymo, Apollo Go and Tesla carry paying riders with no driver at the wheel

Waymo reports more than 500,000 paid rides a week across 14 US cities. Baidu's Apollo Go gave about 1 million fully driverless rides in Q2 2026, down from 3.2 million in Q1 after city regulators cut back service. Tesla runs unsupervised rides in six metro areas but still places safety monitors in many cars and does not publish a fleet count.

Flagship robotaxis and autonomous vehicles deployments
DeploymentDeveloper / operatorWhereScaleAutonomyStatusControls declared
Waymo OneWaymo (Alphabet) / Waymo14 US cities including Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, Denver500,000+ paid rides a week; 4,000+ vehicles (Sep 2026)Driverless, rider onlyCommercialSoftware recall after school-bus passings; publishes crash-rate data
Apollo GoBaidu / Baidu; Dubai Taxi in DubaiWuhan and other Chinese cities; Dubai; Abu DhabiAbout 1 million driverless rides in Q2 2026; 23 million+ cumulative (Jun 2026)Driverless with remote supportCommercial; some Wuhan cars back to safety driversSafety drivers reinstated in parts of Wuhan
Tesla RobotaxiTeslaAustin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Tampa; SF Bay Area with safety driverAbout 2.4 million paid miles (Jun 2026)Mixed: unsupervised in some cars, monitors in othersCommercialSafety monitors in many cars

Recent events

  • Multiple Apollo Go robotaxis stalled on Wuhan roads on the night of March 31, 2026, stranding riders on overpasses.
  • China stopped issuing new robotaxi permits in late April 2026 and resumed city by city in July after a safety review.
  • Zoox began charging for rides in its purpose-built vehicle in Las Vegas on August 10, 2026, after an NHTSA exemption on July 30.
  • Waymo filed a software recall after Austin ISD logged 19 school-bus passings; NHTSA opened its probe in October 2025.
  • Pony.ai says it runs fare-charging driverless service in all four tier-one Chinese cities, around the clock in Shenzhen.
  • NHTSA sent ADS developers a letter on first-responder interactions on July 8, 2026.

Attack surface

Five of ten attack-surface dimensions rate very significant or critical

No dimension rates critical. Ratings use five levels, from limited to critical, and cover the paths an attacker or a failure can take into the agent.

Attack surface by dimension: Physical access significant; Identity and authentication very significant; Command and control channels very significant; Perception and sensors very significant; Connectivity surface significant; OTA and update pipeline very significant; Data capture and retention very significant; Integrations and permissions moderate; Behavioral and policy boundary significant; Multi-agent coordination significant, growing Physical access SIGNIFICANT Identity VERY SIGNIFICANT Command and control VERY SIGNIFICANT Perception VERY SIGNIFICANT Connectivity SIGNIFICANT OTA updates VERY SIGNIFICANT Data capture VERY SIGNIFICANT Integrations MODERATE Behavior boundary SIGNIFICANT Multi-agent SIGNIFICANT, GROWING
Attack surface rating by dimension. Longer, darker bars are rated higher.
Robotaxis and autonomous vehicles attack surface by dimension
DimensionRatingWhy
Physical accessSignificantVehicles parked between rides, charging stations, service depots, and maintenance facilities present direct contact surface for tampering with sensors, ports, and physical interfaces
Identity and authenticationVery significantRider accounts, payment methods, fleet operator credentials, and remote operator access each represent compromise paths
Command and control channelsVery significantFleet dispatch APIs, remote operations channels, in-vehicle command paths, V2X interfaces
Perception and sensorsVery significantCameras, lidar, radar, GNSS, and IMU
Connectivity surfaceSignificantContinuous cellular connectivity, V2X protocols where deployed, paired-phone trust for rider interaction
OTA and update pipelineVery significantFirmware, autonomy models, behavioral policies, and operational parameters all flow through OTA
Data capture and retentionVery significantCabin interior and exterior video, audio, rider behavior, trip history, biometric inference
Integrations and permissionsModeratePayment processors, mapping services, traffic infrastructure, customer service platforms
Behavioral and policy boundarySignificantOperational design domain limits, geofencing, behavioral constraints at the action layer
Multi-agent coordinationSignificant, growingFleet management orchestrates dispatch, routing, and supervision across the entire fleet

Incidents

Six registry incidents involve robotaxis and autonomous vehicles; the developer found three first

Each row links to its full record, with the control that failed, who found it and whether a reporting rule applied.

Registry incidents: robotaxis and autonomous vehicles
IncidentDateAgentFound byControl that failed
Uber Test Vehicle Kills Pedestrian in TempeMar 2018Autonomous test vehicleDeveloperEmergency braking left to an unmonitored backup driver
Cruise Robotaxi Drags a PedestrianOct 2023RobotaxiDeveloperPost-collision pullover with a person under the car
Tesla Recalls Autopilot After NHTSA InvestigationDec 2023Level 2 driver assistanceThird partyDriver engagement controls too weak for the system's reach
Xiaomi SU7 Crashes on Assisted DrivingMar 2025Level 2 driver assistanceNot disclosedConstruction-zone handling with a one-second handover
Apollo Go Robotaxi Falls Into a Construction PitAug 2025RobotaxiThird partyPerception stopped short of a marked work zone
Waymo Robotaxis Pass Stopped School BusesSep 2025RobotaxiDeveloperSchool bus stop behavior in the driving software

Rules

California and China both tightened operator duties in April 2026

Rules that apply to robotaxis and autonomous vehicles
RuleJurisdictionWhat it requiresStatus
California DMV AV regulationsCaliforniaNotices of noncompliance for moving violations; first-responder link answered in 30 seconds; leave an emergency geofence within two minutes; licensed remote operatorsAdopted Apr 28, 2026, phasing in
MIIT, MPS and MOT ICV supervision measuresChinaTighter supervision of intelligent connected vehicle road testing and demonstrationIssued Apr 14, 2026
Draft Road Traffic Safety Law revisionChinaManufacturer handles violations while the autonomous function is activeFirst reading Aug 2026
NHTSA exemptions and AV FrameworkUS federalExemptions for vehicles without manual controls, with crash and stop reporting (Zoox: up to 2,500 a year)Granted Jul 2026
EU Regulation 2022/1426EUType approval for fully automated vehicles on defined routes; 1,500 per type per yearIn force

Status colors: green in force, blue voluntary standard or framework, amber adopted and phasing in, gray draft or pending, red withdrawn.

Record

Page Record

Agent class
Physical
Datasets
ai_deployments.csv (3 rows for this page); ai_attack_surface.csv (10 rows); ai_incidents.csv (6 linked)
Key sources
Waymo rides (InsideEVs)
Pony.ai filing (SEC)
China permit freeze (CnEVPost)
California DMV
Source notes
Waymo One: vehicle count from a secondary source; Tesla Robotaxi: fleet size not disclosed
Last verified
October 2026