Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Friday, June 27th.

Today on Forbes, as Tesla begins Austin Robotaxi tests, Waymo's ride service expands to Atlanta.

Waymo, the U.S. leader in Autonomous Driving, began operating its Robotaxi service in Atlanta on Tuesday,

entering its fifth major U.S. city

as it begins to significantly scale up its commercial operations.

Just as in Austin, where Waymo began operating robotaxies earlier this year, the company

is partnering with Uber for both ride booking and vehicle service, including cleaning and repairs

at depots for the fleet.

The company said it's starting with, quote, dozens of vehicles in Atlanta, and that the fleet

will expand to hundreds over time. Initially, the service will be available in a 65-square-mile

zone in the central part of Georgia's capital city, spanning from downtown to the Buckhead

and Capitol View neighborhoods.

Waymo's latest launch comes as Elon Musk's Tesla began giving paid robotaxi rides in Austin

over the weekend for a small group of pre-selected shareholders and owners.

The launch, which earned much publicity and a share price bump,

included human safety monitors in the front seat, and chase cars keeping close tabs on a dozen

or so model-wise, which were also tracked remotely. That's closer to the early-stage

testing Waymo and other autonomous tech companies have done for years, but which didn't

charge people to ride

along.

The day after Tesla's launch, Barclays analyst Dan Levy said in a research note, quote,

Bulls will point to yesterday's event as the start of a new era for Tesla, one which Bulls and

...