Driverless cars are becoming a more common sight on Dallas streets as Waymo moves into the final phase of testing before opening its robotaxi service to the public.
The white SUVs are equipped with numerous sensors and have been mapping and studying Dallas roads for months.
The company confirmed to NBC 5 that employees have been taking fully autonomous rides with no one behind the wheel for the last couple of months, which is typically the last step before the service becomes publicly available.
A Waymo spokesperson told NBC 5 the company plans to offer rides to the public through its app in early 2026, though no specific date has been announced yet.
The driverless vehicles will stick to operating around downtown and near Dallas Love Field for now. Highway driving is not part of the Dallas rollout yet, as the system continues learning local traffic patterns and local driver habits.
Dallas is one of several cities Waymo is expanding into, along with Houston, San Antonio, Miami, and Orlando. The company already operates in metro areas in California as well as Austin, where more than 100 Waymo vehicles are on the road.
Uber’s own driverless taxis launched in Dallas in December with a test phase, but with drivers still in the cars.
This is all part a robotaxi expansion nationwide, with both companies adding other major Texas cities to its network.
But why is Dallas attracting this type of technology right now?
Dr. Ashim Bose, a professor of practice in information systems at UT Dallas and a longtime expert in artificial intelligence, says the city offers an attractive environment for companies like Waymo.
“When you think about people that are moving in, they tend to be more tech‑savvy, they tend to be more comfortable with new tech,” Bose said. “Dallas has a lot going for it. The environment, the weather, and there’s a lot that is amenable to self‑driving and this type of technology being tried out.”
He added that Texas’s rapid corporate and data center growth – including major hubs for AT&T, Texas Instruments, and a new Google data center – makes North Texas a high-priority testing ground.
“Economics is going to be a driver at the end of the day when it comes to adoption. If people can operate these things in a safe manner at a fraction of the cost it takes today, then that’s going to be an exploration for sure.”
Weather plays a role, too. Bose noted that cities with long winter seasons are tougher for autonomous systems to test and operate in reliably, while still in the infant stages of growth. Dallas’s shorter, less severe winters make year‑round deployment and testing more feasible.
Waymo’s vehicles have spent months collecting detailed roadway information, including lane markings, traffic signals, and common driver behavior.
“We’re seeing that on our road base already, a lot of the testing as the technology gets more familiar with the Dallas way of driving, which is kind of unique as we all know,” Bose said.
The vehicles use cameras, lidar, radar, and a suite of sensors to interpret surroundings and avoid hazards.
Autonomous vehicles have drawn national attention after high‑profile collisions in other cities. In Austin, federal data shows at least 16 collisions involving Waymo vehicles over a three‑month period, though fault was not listed.
Bose said overall national data shows serious injury crashes occur far less frequently with autonomous vehicles than with human drivers, which points toward long‑term safety gains.
“We talk about the quirkiness in the Dallas traffic. And none of us is perfect,” he said. “Distracted driving, driving when you’re fatigued – those things cause bad things to happen. Robotaxis don’t have those types of problems.”
He emphasized that cities will need to prepare for the technology’s growth, from keeping lane paint clearly visible to training first responders on how to interact with self‑driving vehicles after a crash or emergency.
“When rolled out the right way, this has a lot of potential to do a lot of good,” he said.
Despite rapid testing, Bose said widespread use will take time.
“Adoption is going to be slow. It’s going to take a while to build that confidence,” he said. “We should not be expecting a flip‑off switch where everybody is riding a robotaxi tomorrow. It’s going to take time for the adoption to happen for people to be comfortable with the tech.”
Bose predicts gradual adoption of robotaxi technology over the next decade in North Texas.
“At some point, there is going to be a step change as people get more comfortable, as there are generational differences,” he said. “Projecting a little bit into the Jetsons of the future, if you will. But it’s going to become a reality. It’s not going to become a reality as fast as some of us think it will. It takes time for these things to evolve and develop, and for the for the change to be accepted by you and me as citizens and consumers.”
