Waymo crosses 450,000 weekly paid rides, widening Tesla lead | USAEMALL.com

Waymo, the robotaxi unit owned by Alphabet, has crossed 450,000 weekly paid rides, according to a letter from investor Tiger Global viewed by CNBC.

That’s almost double the milestone it hit in April, when Waymo reported 250,000 paid robotaxi rides a week in the U.S.

“Waymo is the clear leader in autonomous driving, recently surpassing 450k trips per week with a product that is 10x safer than human drivers,” Tiger Global wrote in a letter to investors announcing the launch of a new fund.

Tiger’s 450,000-ride estimate is based on publicly available data. Waymo is one of the largest positions in Tiger’s 2024 fund.

Waymo declined to comment.

This year, Waymo has also announced a slew of expansions, including its debut on freeways in three cities, and autonomous driving in cities including Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando.

The latest milestone is also another sign that Waymo is continuing to push ahead of aspiring self-driving competitor Tesla, which has run limited pilots in Austin and operates a ride-hailing service in the Bay Area.

Tesla vehicles include human drivers or safety supervisors on board and are not driverless like Waymo’s fleet vehicles.

According to Tesla’s latest earnings call, executives said the company hit a quarter of a million miles with its fleet in Austin, and more than one million in the Bay Area. In July, Waymo announced 100 million total fully autonomous miles.

CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this article.