Short version, november 2025:
- US: Waymo is running real, fully driverless robotaxis in several cities; Tesla is running an FSD-powered ride-hailing service but still with safety drivers and under heavy regulatory scrutiny. Cruise has basically backed out of robotaxis.
- Europe / NL: No Waymo robotaxis yet; London should be the first European robotaxi city in 2026. In the EU (including the Netherlands) you only see tightly controlled pilots (e.g. shuttles/buses). RDW is still evaluating Tesla FSD – there is no general approval yet.
1. Waymo & robotaxis – status in the US
Where Waymo runs today
Waymo One (Alphabet/Google) is the biggest real robotaxi network right now:
- Operates fully driverless ride-hailing in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and Miami, with expansions planned to Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.(Houston Chronicle)
- Handles ~250,000 trips per week across its US cities.(thedriverlessdigest.com)
- Recently opened freeway trips to the general public in Phoenix, SF and LA (not just surface streets).(Fifth Level Consulting)
These cars run without a human driver in the core zones – it’s genuine “Level 4” robotaxi in those mapped, geo-fenced areas.
Not all smooth sailing
- Waymo is under federal safety investigation (NHTSA) after various incidents, and some cities have pushed back (e.g. Santa Monica restricted night-time operations after complaints about noise and lights).(Houston Chronicle)
- Despite that, regulators have not shut Waymo down as they did with Cruise – operations continue and are expanding.
2. Tesla FSD & Tesla “robotaxis” – status in the US
FSD (Full Self-Driving)
Important distinction:
- Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in the US is still legally a Level 2 driver-assistance system – you must keep hands on wheel and be ready to intervene at all times. Tesla itself calls it “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” on its safety page.(Tesla)
- The system is under ongoing NHTSA investigation (millions of cars, multiple crashes and reports of blowing red lights etc.). (Reuters)
So: it can do a lot, but in law it’s still driver assistance, not an approved self-driving system.
Tesla’s robotaxi / ride-hail service
In 2025 Tesla started to pivot from “just cars” to FSD-powered ride-hailing:
- As of late November 2025, Tesla runs an app-based ride-hailing service in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, with safety monitors still required in the vehicles.(Reuters)
- Elon Musk says the Austin robotaxi fleet will double in December 2025, and Tesla has a permit to launch ride-hailing in Arizona. He keeps talking about removing safety drivers “by the end of 2025” and expanding to 8–10 major US metros, but that hasn’t happened yet and will depend on regulators.(Reuters)
So right now, Tesla in the US is:
- Widespread FSD (Supervised) on privately owned cars.
- A small, still-supervised robotaxi/ride-hail offering in a couple of cities.
- Under heavy federal scrutiny over FSD safety.
3. Other US players (quick context)
- Cruise (GM) – Once Waymo’s main rival in SF. After a serious pedestrian accident and permit suspension in 2023, Cruise halted all driverless operations; GM later cut off dedicated robotaxi funding and folded Cruise into its main ADAS programs, essentially ending the “independent robotaxi network” strategy.(Wikipedia)
- Zoox (Amazon) – Running free robotaxi rides for select users in limited parts of San Francisco but with a small fleet and no full commercial rollout yet.(SFGATE)
- Stellantis + Uber + Nvidia – Announced plans to use Stellantis autonomous vehicles on Uber in the US starting with pilots and ramping up toward production around 2028. That’s future-oriented, not live yet.(media.stellantis.com)
Net-net: in late 2025, Waymo is the only large-scale, fully driverless robotaxi operator in the US; Tesla is coming up from the “driver-assistance” side; others are either small pilot-scale or retrenching.
4. Europe overall (and the Netherlands) – robotaxis & Waymo
Waymo in Europe
- There is no live Waymo robotaxi service on European streets yet.
- Waymo has announced that London will be its first international / European city, with fully driverless ride-hailing planned for 2026 under the UK’s new Automated Vehicles Act. Testing with safety drivers starts first.(Waymo)
So the first “Waymo-style” robotaxis you’ll see in Europe should be in London, not in the EU27 or the Netherlands.
EU & Dutch stance on self-driving taxis
The EU in general is more conservative:
- The EU’s Vehicle General Safety Regulation pushes a lot of mandatory ADAS, but full robotaxi operation is still handled via exemptions and national approvals.(European Commission)
- In the Netherlands, automated vehicles are not allowed on public roads by default. To run driverless, you need an exemption from RDW, and only after safety is demonstrated in a controlled test program.(Regeringen i Nederländerna)
What does exist today in NL and elsewhere in Europe:
- Autonomous shuttles / buses on specific routes, often low-speed and geo-fenced.
- Example: from August 2025, a self-driving shuttle bus runs between Rotterdam and The Hague Airport on public roads, after years of preparation and testing.(euronews)
- Operators like Transdev and Keolis run autonomous shuttle or test services on dedicated tracks or mixed traffic in several EU cities, but these are closer to “mini-buses with a safety attendant” than open city robotaxis.(innovation.keolis.com)
Bottom line for Europe (including NL) right now:
- No Waymo-style, fully public robotaxi service yet.
- London should be first in Europe around 2026.
- On the continent (NL, DE, FR, etc.), you mainly have pilots, shuttles and test projects, not mass-market robotaxis.
5. Tesla FSD in Europe & the Netherlands
Current status
- Tesla wants to bring FSD (Supervised) to Europe and is working via the Netherlands’ RDW as the “type approval” gateway. Under EU Regulation 2018/858, a member state can request an exemption for new functions like advanced driver assistance.(TESLARATI)
- RDW has not approved FSD yet. Reuters reported that RDW will test FSD and aims to decide in February (likely Feb 2026); they explicitly said they will approve only if safety is convincingly demonstrated and even asked Tesla fans to stop lobbying them.(Reuters)
So as of now (late 2025):
- In the EU / Netherlands, Tesla FSD is not generally enabled the way it is in the US.
- Tesla is running FSD “ride-along” demo events in countries like Italy, France and Germany so people can sit in the car as passengers and watch it drive – but that’s still under controlled conditions, not general customer rollout.(TESLARATI)
If RDW does eventually grant an exemption and the EU Technical Committee signs off, FSD (Supervised) could be legally rolled out across the EU, but:
- The timeline is still uncertain,
- And use will likely remain “supervised driver assistance”, not fully hands-off robotaxi, at least initially.
6. Quick “what you can actually do today” overview
In the US (late 2025):
- As a normal user you can:
- Order a fully driverless Waymo in parts of Phoenix, SF, LA, Austin and Miami.(Houston Chronicle)
- Book a Tesla ride-hail in Austin / SF with an FSD-equipped Model Y – but there is still a safety driver, and FSD is supervised.(Reuters)
- You cannot:
- Use Tesla FSD as a legally recognized self-driving, no-attention system, or hail a Cruise robotaxi (they’re gone).
In Europe / Netherlands (late 2025):
- You can:
- Ride small autonomous shuttles or buses in some pilot projects (e.g. Rotterdam–The Hague Airport shuttle).(euronews)
- You cannot (yet):
- Hail a Waymo robotaxi or Tesla robotaxi.
- Use Tesla FSD (Supervised) widely the way US drivers do – it’s still in the regulatory pipeline.