Robotaxi in Nashville: where Waymo goes, from Broadway to Green Hills.

Nashville went from “Waymo is testing here” to a city where a teenager can hail a driverless car to the zoo in about eight months. Waymo pulled the safety drivers out of its Nashville test cars in February (TechCrunch, Feb 9, 2026), took its first public riders in April, dropped the waitlist in June, showed up in the Lyft app in September, and in October added the airport and a big slice of south Nashville.

This page is for riders: where the cars go, what you pay, how to get one to BNA, and which suburbs are still waiting. If you came here wondering about owning a robotaxi instead, there is a short section near the end for you.

Is there a robotaxi in Nashville?

Yes. Waymo gives paid rides in Nashville with nobody behind the wheel, and since June 25, 2026 anyone can use it. In Waymo’s words that day, “anyone in Nashville can download the Waymo app and hail a fully autonomous ride” (Waymo, Jun 25, 2026). Here is how it got there:

• February 9, 2026: Waymo removed the human safety driver from its Nashville test vehicles, after months of supervised testing (TechCrunch, Feb 9, 2026).
• April 7, 2026: public rides began, by invitation, in batches, across a 60-square-mile area including Broadway, 12 South, Midtown and East Nashville (Waymo, Apr 7, 2026). Thousands of residents had already signed up (WSMV, Apr 7, 2026).
• June 25, 2026: the invite list went away (Waymo, Jun 25, 2026).
• September 9, 2026: Lyft riders in central Nashville started being matched with Waymos at no extra cost, making Nashville the first city where Waymo rides are bookable in both apps (Lyft, Sep 9, 2026).
• September 22, 2026: teen accounts, for riders 13 to 17 linked to a parent or guardian (Waymo, Sep 22, 2026).
• October 13, 2026: airport rides at BNA for a limited number of riders (Waymo Help, Oct 13, 2026).
• October 27, 2026: a bigger map, rolling out “over the next week” (Waymo, Oct 27, 2026).

Waymo says its cars run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as a general rule across its cities (Waymo Help, checked Oct 28, 2026). It has not published a Nashville fleet count. The Nashville Post put it at roughly 100 vehicles in Davidson County on October 28 (Nashville Post, Oct 28, 2026); treat that as a reported estimate.

Is Tesla’s Robotaxi in Nashville?

No. Tesla runs no robotaxi service in Tennessee, and it has not said it plans one. We checked the three places Tesla usually names cities:

• Q2 2026 shareholder update (July 22). Its Robotaxi table lists the Bay Area, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas. Nashville and Tennessee do not appear (Tesla, Jul 22, 2026).
• Q3 2026 shareholder update (October 21). Its Robotaxi section names only Austin, where Tesla says it “began deployment of Cybercab into our Robotaxi fleet” (Tesla, Oct 21, 2026). No new cities.
• Robotaxi Safety Report (October 21). Its “Coming Soon” list is Las Vegas, Jacksonville, Phoenix and San Antonio, with no dates, and no Tennessee city (Not a Tesla App, Oct 21, 2026). Our read of the Safety Report has the miles by city.

The Cybercabs in Cool Springs. On August 11, 2026 the Nashville Scene, rerunning a Nashville Post story, reported that “upwards of 25” Cybercabs had been parked at the Dover Centre in Cool Springs for a few weeks, and that Tesla could not be reached to explain why (Nashville Scene, Aug 11, 2026). An unnamed source told the Post that interior panels had been removed and steering wheels temporarily added so people could drive them (Nashville Post, Aug 11, 2026). That is a report of parked cars, not a service. Nobody has been offered a Tesla robotaxi ride in Middle Tennessee, and we found no Tesla statement about the cars since.

The tunnel is a different thing. The Boring Company, another Musk company, is digging the Music City Loop between downtown and BNA; the governor’s office announced state approval of its lease and permit on February 25, 2026 (Office of the Governor, Feb 25, 2026). It is not open, it is not a robotaxi service, and we found no confirmed opening date.

Could Tesla launch here quickly? The law would not stop it. Tennessee’s Automated Vehicles Act lets a car drive with no human aboard if the system can follow traffic law, can bring itself to a safe stop when something fails, and is registered as an automated vehicle (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 55, Ch. 30). There is no special state permit to win first. What decides a Nashville launch is Tesla, and Tesla has not said. Other states are compared in robotaxi laws by state.

Where does Waymo go in Nashville?

The original zone (April). Waymo launched with “60-square-mile” coverage. Its launch post names Broadway, 12 South, Midtown and East Nashville, and its map labels North Nashville, Germantown, Downtown, Music Row, South Nashville and Inglewood (Waymo, Apr 7, 2026). In September, Waymo itself described the area as 50 square miles (Waymo, Sep 22, 2026). We could not find an explanation for the different figures.

The October 27 expansion. Waymo’s own post says only that “people in Nashville can travel further south, like to the zoo,” as part of nearly 250 new square miles across five cities, rolling out over the following week (Waymo, Oct 27, 2026; Electrek, Oct 27, 2026). Local outlets filled in the Nashville part:

• FOX 17 reported 18.5 added square miles, a total of about 80, and a zone that now reaches “farther east toward Nashville International Airport” and south toward Oak Hill, taking in the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, the Mall at Green Hills and Lipscomb University (FOX 17, Oct 28, 2026).
• The Nashville Post named Green Hills, Oak Hill, Forest Hills and Crieve Hall as the added neighborhoods and said the zone now covers about 80 square miles in Davidson County (Nashville Post, Oct 28, 2026).

One honest caveat on the numbers: 18.5 added to Waymo’s September figure of 50 does not make 80. The 80 is the local outlets’ number, not Waymo’s, and Waymo gave no per-city figure. The direction of growth (south and east) is the part every source agrees on.

The Lyft zone is smaller. A Waymo through the Lyft app only happens on trips that start and end inside Downtown/Broadway, North Nashville/Germantown, East Nashville, Midtown and South Nashville, and Lyft said availability would “grow gradually” (Lyft, Sep 9, 2026). Lyft riders can decline a Waymo match or opt out of autonomous rides altogether (WSMV, Oct 13, 2026). For Green Hills or the airport, use the Waymo app.

Freeways. We found no report of Waymo carrying Nashville riders on I-40, I-65, I-24 or I-440. None of the launch, airport or expansion coverage mentions interstate trips, so plan on surface streets.

Nashville robotaxi map, place by place

Waymo draws the live boundary in its app and publishes a map image, not a list of neighborhoods. This table is what the sources say, place by place. “Not named” means we found no source either way; we would rather say that than guess from the outline of a map. The Tesla column is “No” on every row because Tesla offers no rides in Tennessee.

Sources for the table: Waymo (Apr 7, Sep 22 and Oct 27, 2026), Lyft (Sep 9, 2026), FOX 17 (Oct 28, 2026), the Nashville Post (Oct 28, 2026), Waymo Help (Oct 13, 2026) and the Nashville Scene (Aug 11, 2026), all linked above. “No, as reported” for the suburbs rests on the Nashville Post describing the zone as Davidson County; none of those towns is named by any source as served. Every live US metro is on the robotaxi map.

Can a robotaxi take you to BNA?

Yes, if your account has it. On October 13, 2026 Waymo said it was “offering BNA access to a limited number of riders to begin with and will gradually welcome all riders” (Waymo Help, Oct 13, 2026). Riders get a notice in the Waymo app when airport trips are switched on for them (WSMV, Oct 13, 2026). BNA is now on Waymo’s list of served airports, alongside Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Francisco and San José (Waymo Help, checked Oct 28, 2026).

Where to meet the car. Pickups and drop-offs are in Terminal Garage 2, on Level Zero (Waymo Help, checked Oct 28, 2026). Not the curb, so leave a few extra minutes to walk over from baggage claim.

If you are not in the airport group yet. Take a regular rideshare or taxi into the zone, then switch, or book a Lyft and accept whatever it matches. The Lyft zone does not include the airport (Lyft, Sep 9, 2026), so a Lyft from BNA will have a human driver.

How much does a robotaxi cost in Nashville?

Nobody publishes a Nashville rate card, and we will not make one up. What the companies have said on the record:

• Waymo: Annabel Chang, a Waymo public policy director, told FOX 17 that rides are “closely priced” to human-driven rideshare and that “the difference is you don’t have to tip” (FOX 17, Oct 12, 2026). Waymo says a fare is built from a minimum price, the trip’s distance and time, and demand at the moment you request (Waymo Help).
• Waymo through Lyft: asked whether riders will see a price difference between a Waymo and a human driver, Lyft’s Stephen Hayes said “No” (FOX 17, Oct 12, 2026). Lyft’s launch release said the match comes “at no additional cost” (Lyft, Sep 9, 2026).

So in practice: open the Waymo app, look at the quote, and compare it with Lyft or Uber for the same trip. The no-tip part matters more on short hops around downtown than on long ones.

How do you ride a Waymo in Nashville?

In the Waymo app

• 1. Download it. No waitlist and no invite code since June 25, 2026 (Waymo, Jun 25, 2026).
• 2. Drop your pin inside the zone. The app draws the live boundary, which matters this week while the October 27 additions roll out.
• 3. Teens. Riders 13 to 17 can have their own account linked to a parent or guardian, with trip sharing and receipts for the parent (Waymo, Sep 22, 2026). Nashville is the second city with teen accounts, after Phoenix.
• 4. Airport. Only if the app says BNA is available on your account (WSMV, Oct 13, 2026).

In the Lyft app

• 1. Request a normal ride that starts and ends inside the central zone. Some ride types can be matched with a Waymo (Lyft, Sep 9, 2026).
• 2. Accept or decline. You can turn the match down, or opt out of autonomous rides entirely (WSMV, Oct 13, 2026).

A simple rule: anything in the old core (downtown, Midtown, 12 South, East Nashville, Germantown) works in either app. Green Hills, the zoo, Lipscomb or BNA means the Waymo app.

Where do Nashville’s robotaxis go between rides?

Waymo did not build its own garage here. Lyft’s fleet-management subsidiary, Flexdrive, runs the fleet side (TechCrunch, Feb 9, 2026), and on October 2, 2026 it cut the ribbon on an 80,000-square-foot depot with dozens of chargers, saying Waymo vehicles would move in on October 12 (Lyft, Oct 2, 2026). WSMV places it near BNA and describes it as built to charge, clean and maintain hundreds of autonomous vehicles (WSMV, Oct 13, 2026).

If you searched for the Waymo depot in Nashville, the full story (who owns what, the jobs, and why it matters that the car company and the depot company are different businesses) is on our Nashville page.

Other robotaxi guides

Nashville is the only Tennessee city with driverless rides. The closest comparisons are Orlando and San Diego, which got larger Waymo maps in the same October 27 announcement. How the two big operators differ is in Waymo vs Tesla, and every city is tracked in where robotaxis operate.

Thinking about owning one instead?

Every robotaxi on Nashville streets today belongs to Waymo. Tesla’s owner program is not live, and the Cybercab has no public order book. If owner cars ever join a network here, each one needs somewhere to park, charge, get cleaned and be looked after overnight.

That is the business DockDuty, an independent company with no agreement with Tesla, is building. We have no depot, site or lease in Nashville, and no DockDuty depot is operating anywhere yet. Stall reservations take a $450 deposit, refundable until onboarding and credited against the $1,000 onboarding fee. What that means for a Nashville owner is on our Nashville page.

Robotaxi Nashville FAQ

Is there a robotaxi in Nashville?
Yes. Waymo carries paying riders in Nashville with nobody in the driver’s seat. Anyone can ride through the Waymo app since June 25, 2026, and Lyft riders in central Nashville can be matched with a Waymo since September 9, 2026. Tesla’s Robotaxi does not operate in Tennessee.

Where does Waymo go in Nashville?
Downtown and Broadway, Midtown, Music Row, 12 South, Germantown, North Nashville, East Nashville, Inglewood and South Nashville since launch. The October 27, 2026 expansion, rolling out over about a week, adds Green Hills, Oak Hill, Forest Hills and Crieve Hall, plus the Nashville Zoo and Lipscomb University, according to local reports. The Waymo app shows the live boundary.

Can a robotaxi take me to Nashville International Airport (BNA)?
Sometimes. Waymo started BNA rides on October 13, 2026 for a limited number of riders and says it will open them to everyone gradually. Pickups and drop-offs are in Terminal Garage 2, Level Zero. The app tells you when airport trips are available on your account.

Is there a robotaxi in Franklin, Brentwood or Murfreesboro?
Not that we can find. Waymo’s zone is described as covering about 80 square miles in Davidson County, so Franklin, Cool Springs, Brentwood, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Hendersonville and Mt. Juliet sit outside it. No operator has announced service in those towns.

Is Tesla’s Robotaxi in Nashville?
No. Tesla has not listed Nashville or any Tennessee city in its shareholder updates or in its October 21, 2026 Robotaxi Safety Report. The Nashville Scene reported about 25 Cybercabs parked in Cool Springs in August 2026, and Tesla did not explain why.

How much does a Waymo cost in Nashville?
Waymo publishes no Nashville rate card. A Waymo policy director told FOX 17 that rides are closely priced to human-driven rideshare and that you do not tip, and Lyft said a Waymo matched through its app costs the same as a human driver. Both apps quote the fare before you book.