Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., revealed this week that it is expanding the scope of its California robotaxi service area to encompass Daly City, Broadmoor and Colma in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, Playa Vista in Los Angeles County.
The expansion marks the first time the self-driving rideshare company will serve customers in the Peninsula of San Francisco. Riders can hail a Waymo driverless vehicle starting Tuesday from anywhere in San Francisco through Colma bringing Waymo’s total Bay Area service coverage to 55 square miles.
In March, Waymo received approval to expand its paid robotaxi services to San Francisco freeways and other highways in the Bay Area. For now, the company is still testing its vehicles with a safety driver on Bay Area freeways, Bonelli said.
The introduction of driverless vehicles in California has generated significant debate after one car was involved in a high profile accident. For instance, Waymo rival Cruise lost its permit to operate from San Francisco last year after one of its cars dragged a pedestrian 20 feet.
Meanwhile, federal safety investigators in May opened a preliminary investigation into dozens of incidents involving Waymo’s driverless vehicles.
Waymo’s expansion follows a “careful and multilayered approach to safety set out in our safety framework,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Waymo has had “preliminary discussions” with San Francisco International Airport officials to begin mapping and testing ahead of potential pickup and drop-off service there.
CARLIST THOUGHTS
It’s great to see these driverless robotaxis doing what they were designed for. Yes, there are people out there who appreciate this technology and want it to go forward. But there is also a large part of the population who consider these cars to be premature and the technology to be unfinished and in need of improvement, plus of course in great need of maturation before passengers actually get on board.