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Waymo removes Dallas waitlist and opens robotaxi service to all residents and visitors

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

Waymo dropped its Dallas waitlist on August 4, opening the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace fleet to anyone in the city after serving nearly 150,000 riders in the six-month phased launch. Love Field Airport service remains in testing.

Waymo removes Dallas waitlist and opens robotaxi service to all residents and visitors

Waymo dropped the Dallas waitlist on August 4. Any resident or visitor can now download the app and hail a fully autonomous vehicle without a prior spot on an interest list. That six-month invite-only phase served nearly 150,000 riders before it ended, per Waymo's announcement.

What happened

Waymo launched the Dallas service in February 2026 under a waitlist drawn from an interest list. Access opened to everyone on August 4. All-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles make up the fleet; Avis Budget Group handles depot operations, including charging and maintenance, under a partnership the companies announced when the Dallas rollout was first planned, per TechCrunch.

One gap remains: rides to Dallas Love Field Airport are not yet available. Waymo said fully autonomous testing at airport terminals is ongoing, with passenger service to follow. Freeway testing in Dallas is also underway, a required step before those routes open to riders.

Dallas follows the same phased playbook Waymo used in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where a waitlist period gave way to open availability as the company hit internal thresholds, per TechCrunch.

The May pause and what followed

Service hit a setback in May 2026. Waymo suspended operations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Atlanta simultaneously after its vehicles encountered difficulty with heavy rain and flooded roads. That halt was unusually broad: four cities simultaneously, all for the same weather failure.

Rides resumed across all four cities. Waymo now says it may adjust or temporarily pause operations based on severe weather, flood warnings, and real-time road conditions; current status is visible in the Waymo app.

Why it matters

For Dallas residents and visitors, the change is immediate: anyone can open the app and request a ride.

That May pause is instructive given the timing of today's full-open announcement. Waymo halted in four cities, investigated, and resumed with a new operating protocol built around dynamic weather-based pausing. That protocol is now part of the Dallas baseline at the point of opening to everyone, rather than something to be worked out afterward.

Avis's depot role also points toward a broader model. Avis manages charging, maintenance, and depot operations while Waymo maintains the autonomous stack. Splitting those responsibilities could be the template for future cities where Waymo launches without building physical infrastructure from scratch.

What to watch next

Dallas Love Field Airport is the next public milestone. Freeway access follows once autonomous freeway testing completes. Beyond Dallas, how Waymo applies the weather-protocol approach and the Avis partnership structure in future city announcements is the longer-run signal to track.

Sources