Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is expanding its fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service to the public in two more US cities: Los Angeles, California, and Austin, Texas.
The company’s robotaxis are set to begin full public operation in Los Angeles next week, with public service due to begin in Austin later this year after the successful conclusion of road trials using its own staff members. By the end of this year, Waymo will be operating a full public service in four major US cities, with the two latest additions joining San Francisco, California, and Phoenix, Arizona.
Despite issuing a software recall in February, following two incidents that occurred in what it described as “a rare scenario in Phoenix on December 11, 2023, which resulted in no injuries and minor vehicle damage”, the company remains determined to continue to expand its service across the USA.
“Once an unimaginable future, autonomous driving is now a real-world way of getting around for tens of thousands of people each week,” said Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, during a featured session at the SXSW music, culture and technology festival in Austin, Texas. “After achieving key milestones in each city, we’re so excited to bring the safety, comfort and delight of our Waymo One service to more people in Los Angeles and Austin this year.”
Los Angeles
In LA, Waymo says it will begin by offering rides in a 63 square mile area from Santa Monica to Downtown LA, scaling its operations over time. These initial rides will be free, and with the California Public Utilities Commission’s recent approval, Waymo is expected to transition to paid service in the coming weeks.
“We’ll permanently welcome riders into our service, gradually onboarding the more than 50,000 people on our LA waitlist and continuing to hand out temporary codes at local events throughout the city,” the company said in a statement on its website.
“We’ve put the Waymo Driver through over a year of careful, deliberate evaluation in Los Angeles since we first announced it as our third ride-hailing city,” the statement continued. “Last October, we invited a broad cross section of Angelenos to experience the Driver for themselves during our Waymo One Tour. Angelenos have taken over 15,000 fully autonomous rides with the Waymo Driver over the past five months, across Santa Monica, Century City, WeHo, Mid City, K-Town and Downtown LA. The thousands of Angelenos who rode with us during the tour quickly integrated Waymo into their daily lives to shop, run errands and enjoy recreation and entertainment. With an average trip rating of 4.7/5 stars, they enjoyed the journey no matter the destination.”
Austin
In Austin, Waymo is currently testing fully autonomous rides across 43 square miles of the city, encompassing the heart of downtown, Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin, Hyde Park and more. Rides are currently limited to Waymo employees only, with public service expected to begin later this year.
“Since we announced Austin as our fourth ride-hail city last year, we’ve been reacquainting ourselves with the city where we made history by giving the first member of the public a ride in a fully autonomous vehicle on public streets,” the company’s statement said.
“Our next steps are consistent with how we’ve built our service in other cities, focusing on community partnerships, engagement with policymakers and first responders and incremental expansion supported by our rigorous safety standards. Waymo vehicles have now driven over 10 million miles without a human driver behind the wheel and billions more in simulation — an unprecedented data set of safe driving experience that has helped generalize the Waymo Driver’s capabilities to Los Angeles and Austin.”