Waymo crosses 450,000 weekly paid rides, widening Tesla lead

Waymo, its robotaxi unit AlphabetAccording to a letter from investor Tiger Global seen by CNBC, weekly paid rides have surpassed 450,000.

That’s nearly double the milestone Waymo reached in April, when it reported 250,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the US.

“Waymo is the clear leader in autonomous driving, surpassing 450,000 rides per week with a product that is 10 times safer than human drivers,” Tiger Global wrote in a letter to investors announcing the launch of a new fund.

Tiger’s 450,000 ride estimate is based on publicly available data. Waymo is one of the largest positions in Tiger’s 2024 fund.

Waymo declined to comment.

This year, Waymo also announced a number of expansions, including its first rollout on highways in three cities and autonomous driving in cities including Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando.

This latest milestone is also another sign that Waymo continues to outpace its driverless rival. Tesla’sOperating limited pilots in Austin and the Bay Area.

According to Tesla’s last earnings call, executives said the company had driven a quarter of a million miles with its fleet in Austin and more than a million miles in the Bay Area. In July, Waymo announced it had logged a total of 100 million fully autonomous miles.