Waymo Adds Nearly 250 Square Miles in Five Cities as Alphabet's Other Bets Loses $2B
Waymo is expanding driverless service by nearly 250 square miles across Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego and the Bay Area, a day before Alphabet said the unit that includes Waymo lost $2.05 billion last quarter.
Waymo is adding nearly 250 square miles of driverless ride-hailing territory across five US metro areas, the company said on October 27, 2026, with the new zones rolling out over the following week. The expansion covers Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area, and it lands in cities where the service already runs with nobody in the driver's seat.
The timing matters. A day later, on October 28, Alphabet reported that its Other Bets segment, which includes Waymo, lost $2.05 billion in the third quarter. Waymo is growing its map faster than any rival in the United States, but it is still paying heavily for that growth, and this week showed both sides of the business at once.
Key facts at a glance
- Nearly 250 square miles of new service area across five metros, announced October 27 and rolling out over about a week.
- New areas include Torrance in Los Angeles' South Bay, La Jolla in San Diego, and a BART connection at Berryessa Station in San Jose.
- Alphabet's Other Bets segment, home to Waymo, posted $372 million in third-quarter revenue, up 8% from a year earlier, and an operating loss of $2.05 billion, wider than $1.43 billion a year ago.
- Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Waymo now operates in 15 major US cities and has driven more than 300 million fully autonomous miles.
- Waymo closed a $5 billion term loan on October 8, its first debt financing.
How Waymo got here
Waymo has spent 2026 turning pilot cities into full commercial markets. It opened Nashville to public riders in April with a zone of about 60 square miles covering downtown, Midtown, Music Row and East Nashville. San Diego followed, and on October 14 the company opened its app to anyone in San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa, including rides at San Antonio International Airport.
The pace has picked up this month. On October 8, chief financial officer Steve Fieler announced the $5 billion term loan, describing it as "an important step in our evolution into a scaling commercial enterprise." On October 16 the company said it is laying the groundwork for a service in Toronto, with the goal of welcoming its first riders in 2028. On October 20 it announced plans for Spain, starting with the Region of Madrid. And on October 21 it began serving Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, with pickups and drop-offs in dedicated autonomous vehicle zones at Terminals 1 and 3.
That came on top of a $16 billion funding round in February at a $126 billion valuation, led by Alphabet. In August, Waymo also said it plans to start robotaxi rides in Germany in 2027.
Where the new coverage goes
Los Angeles extends down the coast. The service area now runs into the South Bay through Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach to Torrance. Waymo did not say how many square miles of the total are in Los Angeles. Its current service still does not include Los Angeles International Airport.
San Diego reaches La Jolla. Less than two months after its San Diego launch, the zone now stretches north through Clairemont and University City to La Jolla, including the UC San Diego campus, the VA and the University Town Center shopping area.
The Bay Area adds a transit link. Coverage pushes further into the South Bay, with a new connection to BART at Berryessa Station in San Jose. The service area now runs from San Francisco down the Peninsula to San Jose and Campbell. A rail connection is a meaningful change, because it lets riders combine a train trip with a driverless ride for the last few miles.
Nashville and Orlando grow too. Nashville riders can travel further south, including to the zoo. In Orlando, coverage on the east side nearly doubles, with more service downtown.
Waymo did not break out square mileage by city and did not say how many vehicles it is adding to serve the new territory. Updated maps are already in the Waymo app.
Scale versus cost
The operating numbers keep climbing. Pichai told analysts on Alphabet's October 28 earnings call that "Waymo now operates in 15 major U.S. cities," and that it has "now driven more than 300 million fully autonomous miles." Waymo's own safety analysis, published in September and covering more than 270 million fully autonomous miles through the end of June 2026 in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, said its driver was involved in 82% fewer injury-causing crashes than a human benchmark, and 93% fewer injury-causing crashes involving pedestrians.
The financial picture is less flattering. Other Bets brought in $372 million in revenue in the third quarter, about 0.3% of Alphabet's total sales. The segment's operating loss widened to $2.05 billion, and it also includes other businesses, such as the drug design unit Isomorphic, so not all of that loss is Waymo. Alphabet does not report Waymo on its own.
The parent company is under more pressure to watch cash. Alphabet reported negative free cash flow of more than $9 billion for the quarter as it spends on AI infrastructure, and kept its full-year capital spending forecast at $195 billion to $205 billion. Its shares fell almost 10% in extended trading after the results. That backdrop helps explain why Waymo has started raising outside money and debt rather than relying only on its parent.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| New service area announced Oct 27 | Nearly 250 sq mi in 5 metros |
| US cities served | 15 |
| Fully autonomous miles driven | More than 300 million |
| Other Bets Q3 revenue | $372 million (up 8%) |
| Other Bets Q3 operating loss | $2.05 billion (vs. $1.43 billion) |
| Term loan closed Oct 8 | $5 billion |
What it means for you
If you live in one of the five metros, check the Waymo app before assuming your trip is covered. The rollout happens over about a week, so a destination that is outside the zone on Monday may be inside it by the weekend. In the Bay Area, the Berryessa BART link is the most practical change for commuters heading into San Jose.
If you are a traveler, airport access is still patchy. Waymo serves Harry Reid in Las Vegas, San Antonio International and several other airports, but not LAX. Plan a backup for airport runs in Los Angeles.
If you are outside the US, nothing changes yet. Toronto is targeted for 2028, and Pichai named Canada, Germany, Singapore and Spain as planned expansions. Riders in the UK and Australia should not expect anything from this week's news.
If you follow the business, watch the gap between growth and cost. A bigger map means more vehicles, depots and support staff before new riders pay for them, and Alphabet's shareholders are now paying closer attention to cash.
Another view
Waymo's lead over its closest US rival looks large on these numbers. Tesla says vehicles in its Robotaxi network have completed about 3.8 million unsupervised miles, a small fraction of Waymo's 300 million-plus. But Tesla is also widening its robotaxi zones in Texas, where it launched in Dallas and Houston in April. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on his company's earnings call that Robotaxi should become a "meaningful" revenue contributor by the second half of 2027.
The sceptical view is about money, not technology. Waymo remains a small revenue line inside Alphabet, and its biggest competitor outside the US, Baidu's Apollo Go in China, is also scaling quickly. Covering more territory does not by itself prove the service can make money.
What happens next
- Early November 2026: the five-city expansion finishes rolling out, about a week after the October 27 announcement.
- Coming weeks: a new silver version of Waymo's Ojai vehicle is due to start serving rides in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
- 2027: planned launch of rides in Germany, Waymo's first market in the European Union.
- 2028: target date for first riders in Toronto.
- Open question: whether Alphabet starts disclosing Waymo's finances separately as the business grows.
Takeaways
- Waymo added nearly 250 square miles in five metros this week, including Torrance, La Jolla and a BART link at Berryessa.
- Check the app for your exact address, because the new zones roll out gradually over about a week.
- Do not count on airport service everywhere, since Las Vegas and San Antonio are covered but LAX is not.
- The business is still losing money: the segment that includes Waymo lost $2.05 billion last quarter on $372 million in revenue.
- International riders should watch Toronto (2028), Germany (2027) and Madrid, the markets Waymo has publicly named outside the US.