Key Waymo Dallas Findings

Waymo Dallas Field Report

After two days of riding around the Dallas area in Waymos and visiting depots on opposite sides of the city, we identified several operational shifts that distinguish this market from others, as well as some familiar strategic patterns.

Depot One: Temporary Operational Hub (West Dallas)

The first depot we visited is located in an industrial sector west of Downtown Dallas, an area densely populated with logistics centers. During our visit, we counted roughly 18 Waymos staged in the depots parking lot alongside four bay doors that appeared to lead to a maintenance facility.

While we did not witness any vehicles entering the building, the site features a ramp design commonly found at other Waymo depots nationwide. Our primary takeaway from the visit was the lack of permanent charging infrastructure. We observed temporary on-site power generation being utilized by an individual to charge a Waymo Jaguar I-PACE.

Several factors suggest this is a temporary staging location rather than a permanent hub:

• Infrastructure: No visible permanent charging installations were present.
• Operations: Personnel in Transdev vests were observed servicing and charging the vehicles.
• Maintenance: An individual was observed manually cleaning vehicle sensors outdoors.

Depot Two: Avis Budget Group (East Dallas)

The second depot is located in East Dallas, several miles from Downtown. This facility appears to be nearing operational status, though no vehicles were on-site during our visit. Public records link the property to an LLC with a Utah mailing address belonging to the Avis Budget Group. The design closely mirrors Waymo’s established depots in Santa Monica and Miami.

This site differs dramatically from depot one and appears to be a permanent hub:

• Capacity: The site features roughly 36 fast chargers.
• Development: The facility is fully built and secured, following the permanent depot architecture observed in other major markets.
• Operational Intent: This site appears to be one of Waymo’s primary permanent operations depot in Dallas. However, the lack of visible maintenance facilities with the site currently limited to charging and security, suggests the possibility of a third operational location in the Dallas area.

Strategic Geography

The two Waymo depots that we uncovered during our field work are at opposite ends of Waymo’s current Dallas service area. The locations of the depots in our opinion are likely intentional as this footprint would give Waymo the ability to recharge vehicles quikcer, increasing their uptime.

While the Dallas market is in its early rider public phase, with residents still giving the vehicles looks of disbelief, Waymo is clearly laying the ground to scale service in the Dallas metro region.

The two depots identified during our fieldwork are situated at opposite ends of Waymo’s current Dallas service area. This placement appears to be intentional, as the footprint likely allows Waymo to recharge vehicles more efficiently, thereby increasing fleet uptime.

While the Dallas market remains in its early public phase, with residents still observing the vehicles with visible curiosity, Waymo is clearly establishing the infrastructure necessary to scale service across Dallas region.