Alphabet’s Waymo is taking another bold step into the autonomous vehicle revolution, this time setting its sights on Nashville. The tech company has officially removed human safety drivers from its test vehicles in the city, signaling a major milestone in its robotaxi expansion strategy.

Waymo’s latest move is part of a strategic partnership with Lyft, aiming to launch a full robotaxi service in Nashville later this year. Initially, riders will be able to hail these driverless vehicles directly through the Waymo app, with plans to integrate the service into the Lyft platform as it scales.

The company’s methodical approach to autonomous vehicle deployment has been consistent across multiple cities. Starting with manually driven vehicles to map urban landscapes, Waymo gradually transitions to human-supervised autonomous testing before introducing fully driverless operations. This careful strategy has already proven successful in cities like Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and Phoenix.

For Nashville residents, this means experiencing cutting-edge transportation technology that could reshape urban mobility. Lyft will manage critical backend operations, including vehicle maintenance, charging infrastructure, and depot management through its subsidiary Flexdrive.

Waymo’s expansion isn’t stopping in Nashville. The company continues to test driverless fleets in additional cities like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando, demonstrating a comprehensive national rollout strategy.

As autonomous vehicle technology advances, cities like Nashville are becoming proving grounds for a transportation future that seemed like science fiction just a decade ago. Waymo’s methodical, safety-first approach suggests we’re not just witnessing a technological experiment, but the early stages of a fundamental transformation in how we move through urban spaces.