Plan Ahead

Houston SPCA to host free seminar about estate planning for your pets

Feel better about your pet's future at this free seminar.

Photo courtesy of Houston SPCA

It's a topic that no one is pumped to sit down and deal with, but August is "Make a Will Month" so let's talk estate planning and your pets.

Just like planning for a child, parents, or grandparents, responsible pet owners should have a Plan B for their beloved pets.

With that in mind, Houston SPCA is hosting a free seminar titled Estate Planning and Your Pets, where such questions as “Whom should you name as a pet’s guardian?" and "For how long and what will the quality of care look like?” will be addressed.

The seminar will take place on Tuesday, August 29, at the Houston SPCA's Carruth Education Center from 11 am-1 pm.

John Strohmeyer, a Houston tax and estate law attorney and a good friend of the Houston SPCA, will lead the conversation. Strohmeyer is an accomplished estate planning lawyer with professional insights and experience. He will guide you through the maze of often complex estate law and answer questions specific to planning for yourself and your pets.

A light lunch will be also served. Space is limited, and seats will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

RSVP now by calling 713-869-7722, extension 161, or by emailing ktaylor@houstonspca.org.

If you have further questions or need more information, feel free to reach out to Pat Quinn, director of major gifts and gift planning, at 713-869-7722, extension 141, or pquinn@houstonspca.org.

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hail hail

Self-driving Waymo robotaxis hit the streets in Houston

Waymo/ Facebook

Waymo is now offering driverless rides to Houstonians.

Waymo will begin dispatching its robotaxis in Houston and four more cities in Texas and Florida, expanding the territory covered by its fleet of self-driving cars to 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets.

The move into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, Florida, announced Tuesday, February 24, widens Waymo's early lead in autonomous driving while rival services from Tesla and the Amazon-owned Zoox are still testing their vehicles in only a few U.S. cities.

In contrast, Waymo's robotaxis already provide more than 400,000 weekly trips in the six metropolitan areas where they have been transporting passengers: Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and Austin.

Waymo's cars soft launched service in San Antonio in November 2025, initially only offering the rides to employees. The company first began testing Alamo City’s roads the previous May as part of a multi-city “road trip” meant to map out roadways and help alleviate local concern over safety and other issues.

Waymo operates its ride-hailing service through its own app in all the U.S. cities except Atlanta and Austin, where its robotaxis can only be summoned through Uber's ride-hailing service.

The expansion into four more markets marks a significant step toward Waymo's goal to surpass 1 million weekly paid trips by the end of 2026. Without identifying where its robotaxis will be available next, Waymo is targeting a list of eight other cities that include Las Vegas, Washington, Detroit, and Boston while signaling its first overseas availability is likely to be London.

To help pay for more robotaxis, Waymo recently raised $16 billion as part of the financial infusion that puts the value of the company at $126 billion. The valuation fueled speculation that Waymo may eventually be spun off from its corporate parent Alphabet, where it began as a secret project within Google in 2009.

Although Waymo is opening up in four more cities, its robotaxis initially will only be made available to a limited number of people with its ride-hailing app in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and Orlando before the service will be available to all corners in those markets.

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This article contains additional reporting from CultureMap San Antonio editor Brandon Watson.

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