Can I ride a robotaxi in Portland?

What's happening in Portland

"Starting today, we'll begin manually driving our vehicles," Waymo wrote on Apr 28, 2026, announcing its arrival in Portland. That remains the core of the public record: human-driven cars collecting data on city streets, with no riders on board.

Waymo says it is working with state and city officials on a path to service. Oregon has no robotaxi law and Portland no robotaxi rule on record, so it's unclear what approvals stand in the way or how long they might take. Waymo calls Portland "Up Next" and has given no launch date. No other operator has turned up in Portland.

The closest public robotaxi service is in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Waymo is open in its app across San Francisco, the Peninsula and San Jose. Seattle, to the north, is in the same position as Portland, with Waymo cars testing under human drivers and no public rides.

Manual driving is the first of the stages Waymo has used in other cities. In Tampa, TechCrunch reported manual driving in Nov 2025, Waymo began employee-only operations after Jul 8, 2026 and opened to everyone on Oct 14, 2026. Portland hasn't reached the employee stage in any source.