TL;DR
Driverless taxis are starting to leave downtown. Over one week starting Oct. 27, Waymo said it would add nearly 250 square miles of service across five metro areas, stretching its robotaxis into places like Torrance, La Jolla, San Jose and south Nashville, and to a commuter-rail station in the Bay Area. For people who live in the suburbs, a ride with nobody at the wheel could stop being something they read about from downtown and become something they can call from home. If the zones keep spreading like this, driverless rides could become an ordinary way to get around most of a big American city, and perhaps the missing link between a train station and a front door. Waymo has not said how many cars will serve the new ground, and its service still stops at each city's edge.
Below the line, for paid subscribers: The full story: where it stands, how we got here and what's dated next; our Odds board on 5 milestones, starting with "Driverless rides become an ordinary option in most big U.S. cities by 2030"; our labeled speculation on what it adds up to; and every source.