Zoox vs Waymo

Las Vegas: two different kinds of service

Zoox rides in Las Vegas run between designated destinations on and near the Strip. By August 2026 the list included Resorts World, AREA15, Topgolf, Fashion Show Mall and the Las Vegas Convention Center, along with Fontainebleau, Wynn and Encore at the north end, ARIA, Bellagio, New York-New York and MGM Grand in the middle, and Luxor, Excalibur and Mandalay Bay to the south. Sphere and T-Mobile Arena serve as stops only during events. When the service launched on Sep 10, 2025, there were five.

Waymo, also driverless in Las Vegas, picks up across a service area of nearly 24 sq mi, running along the Strip from Boulder Junction up to Sahara Ave and east-west from the edge of Spring Valley to Winchester. Allegiant Stadium has a dedicated pickup zone. Riders have been let in gradually from a waitlist since Sep 14, 2026, and freeways were left out at launch.

To book a Zoox, use the Zoox app or the Uber app. Waymo rides go through the Waymo app. City details are on the Zoox and Waymo Las Vegas pages.

What each charges in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Zoox rides were free from September 2025 until Aug 10, 2026, when Zoox started charging. The fare combines a base charge with distance and time on the best route, appears before booking and stays the same if the route changes. Airport trips and high-traffic events at Sphere or T-Mobile Arena can carry destination fees. Zoox hasn't published its base fare in dollars, though Casinos.com reported one first-day trip, ARIA to Fontainebleau, at $21.07.

Waymo's Las Vegas rate is public: $9.49 base, $1.23 per mile and $0.45 per minute, with tolls, fees and surcharges on top. The Waymo price page has more.

Harry Reid International Airport

Since Sep 3, 2026, Zoox has made driverless pickups and drop-offs at Harry Reid International Airport. Riders meet the car on Level Zero of the parking garage at Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 and are dropped at the departures curbs, and a destination fee may apply. News 3 LV reported that Waymo's rides don't yet include the airport. Details are on the LAS airport page.

San Francisco: free waitlist rides vs open service

Zoox's San Francisco service runs driverless with a waitlist. Since Nov 18, 2025, its Explorers program has given free rides to invited members of the public in return for feedback, because pilot permits from the state's utilities regulator don't let Zoox charge fares. The launch area covered most of SoMa, the Mission and the Design District. Zoox announced an expansion of about 4x across the eastern half of the city on Mar 24, 2026, but it wasn't confirmed whether all of it is live for Explorers.

Waymo's paid rides are open to anyone in the app across San Francisco, the Peninsula and San Jose, an area of over 260 sq mi as of November 2025. It serves SJC and gives a limited number of riders access to SFO. Compare the Zoox and Waymo San Francisco pages.

Vehicles and the federal exemption

Inside a Zoox, four seats face each other, each with a seatbelt, airbags and a touchscreen, and the doors open only on the curb side. A Waymo takes up to four riders and keeps the driver's seat off-limits.

According to The AutoWire, NHTSA granted Zoox a temporary exemption from federal motor vehicle safety standards on Jul 31, 2026. It runs through Jul 31, 2028 and covers up to 2,500 vehicles a year.

Recalls on record

Both companies have filed software recalls with NHTSA. Zoox's covered 258 vehicles that could brake hard unexpectedly (Mar 14, 2025) and 270 that could mispredict a slowly approaching perpendicular vehicle (Apr 25, 2025). Later recalls covered 332 vehicles that could cross the center line near intersections (Dec 19, 2025) and 105 whose software could fail to detect heavy smoke (Jul 10, 2026).

Waymo's recalls covered 3,067 vehicles that could pass a stopped school bus (Dec 8, 2025), 3,791 that could drive into standing water on higher-speed roads (May 1, 2026) and 3,871 that could enter closed freeway construction zones (Jun 13, 2026). A software update addressed each one. The full list is on the safety page.

Other cities

In Austin and Miami, Zoox carries only employees and their friends and family, with a safety driver on board. It is testing in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Washington, DC and Los Angeles, where Uber plans Zoox rides by mid-2027. Waymo already takes public riders in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego, and is testing in Seattle and Washington, DC. The Zoox and Waymo operator pages have more.