Teens Can Now Take Waymo's Driverless Taxis in Nashville
Teenagers as young as 13 can now use Waymo's driverless taxis in Nashville. A robotaxi is a taxi with no driver. The car drives itself. Nashville is the second city to get teen accounts, after Phoenix started them in 2025. TechCrunch
How teen accounts work
The Nashville program covers ages 13 to 17. Each teen needs an account linked to a parent or guardian.
Once set up, the teen can order a ride anywhere Waymo drives in Nashville. Each teen can bring up to three guests ages 13 to 17.
Teens in this age group cannot ride without this kind of account. Every ride must be tied to a guardian's account. Families sign up at waymo.com/teens.
Parents can follow the trip, much like tracking a food delivery. They get live status updates and an automatic receipt after each ride. Teens can also reach Rider Support agents with special training.
Why Nashville is next
Waymo, a unit of Alphabet, started its Nashville service in a 50-square-mile area in April 2026. On February 9, 2026, the company had said its Nashville cars were driving with no one behind the wheel. Reuters In September 2026, Nashville Waymo rides became available in the Lyft app.
Teen accounts already operate in Metro Phoenix. Waymo says Nashville will be the first of many teen launches in the coming months through the Waymo app. It will add them where operations are mature and local rules allow it. The company had planned to expand to 20 new cities in 2026. Mashable
Waymo also worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley and the Legacy Institute to study summer interns. It reported that access to Waymo rides for commuting cut reported stress from 86% to 43% among the interns studied.
The broader picture here is trust. The car drives the same way for a teen as for an adult. What is different is what parents need to feel comfortable. Linked accounts, live updates, receipts, and trained helpers answer that need without putting a driver back in the car.
In my view, Nashville is a test for other cities. I saw this with my own two children when they started using phones and then cars on their own. The big change was not the device or the car. It was whether parents could still see what was happening. If parents trust the live updates, more families may use Waymo, and teens may keep using it as adults.
