Hey —
Welcome to The AV Fleet Brief. This is a weekly newsletter tracking the rise of autonomous vehicle fleet maintenance — the new skilled trade that's creating thousands of jobs and nobody's covering it.
Here's what happened this week:
Waymo doubled its weekly rides — and it's still accelerating
Waymo announced it's now completing 500,000 paid rides per week across 10 US cities. That's double what they were doing a year ago. The company is targeting 1 million rides per week by end of 2026.
What this means for the fleet maintenance workforce: more rides = more vehicle miles = more maintenance demand. At current expansion rates, the industry needs thousands of additional technicians over the next 12-18 months.
4 new cities launched simultaneously
Waymo opened service in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando — its first multi-city launch. Each new market requires a fleet operations partner with depot facilities, charging infrastructure, and technician teams on the ground.
Avis is handling Dallas (multiyear deal across 50+ sites). Fleet partners for Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando haven't been publicly confirmed yet — which means those contracts are either in negotiation or being kept quiet. Either way, the hiring has already started.
The fleet partner you should know about: Avomo
If you're not familiar with Avomo, you should be. They're a Spanish fleet management company (part of the Moove Cars group) that handles maintenance, charging, cleaning, and depot operations for Waymo's fleet in Austin and Atlanta. They launched their US operations in early 2025 and are actively hiring experienced auto technicians.
Why they matter: Avomo represents the future of AV fleet maintenance employment. They're not an AV company — they're an operations company that maintains AV fleets. That distinction is important because it means the skills they're hiring for are automotive fundamentals first, AV-specific systems second.
One thing to read this week
If you're considering AV fleet maintenance as a career path, start here: How to Become an Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Technician — our complete 2026 guide covering skills, salary data, training programs, and who's hiring.
Until next week,
AVFleetTech