Self-Driving Taxi Company Waymo Expands California Coverage Area

Self-driving taxi company Waymo is expanding its coverage area again.

The firm, owned by Google parent Alphabet, is extending the operational zones for its Waymo One ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County.

In the former, it’s moving into the San Francisco Peninsula for the first time, adding a total of 10 square miles that sees Daly City, Broadmoor and Colma now covered by its ride-hailing service.

Waymo says this means that its operation there now covers 55 square miles, from Fisherman’s Wharf to Serramonte Center and connecting to the Daly City and Colma Bart Stations.

Meanwhile in LA, where Waymo only launched commercially in March, another 16 square miles have been added including Marina del Rey, Mar Vista and Playa Vista, plus more of Hollywood, Chinatown and Westwood. In total, 79 square miles of LA County are now covered.

Waymo has been operating a commercial service 24/7 in San Francisco since receiving permission from the California Public Utilities Commission in August of last year.

But this move into the wider area around San Francisco comes on the back of approval from CPUC to expand in March. In June, Waymo’s ambitions to scale were emphasized further when it announced that its service in San Francisco would be open to everyone, and not just those who had signed up for the Waymo waitlist.

Related:Cruise, Waymo Get OK for Self-Driving Taxi Fleets in San Francisco

Of course, the company is not solely active in California, having established itself as a major presence in Phoenix, Arizona, where it recently added 90 square miles to its service area and is also now offering curbside pick-ups and drop-offs at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

News of the extended coverage areas in California was accompanied by the release of some landmark figures that underline the growing scale of the Waymo operation across the United States.

According to the company, it has now delivered more than 2 million paid autonomous rides to members of the public and this figure is growing at a rate of more than 50,000 a week. Waymo also claims its vehicles have now driven more than 20 million miles autonomously.

“Our team is laser-focused on refining Waymo One to be as seamless and useful as possible for our riders,” said Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo chief product officer. 

“This means offering exceptional ride quality, short wait times, and more exciting destinations. We’re committed to California, where many of our team members call home, so it’s really special to be able to bring the benefits of full autonomy to even more people in San Francisco and Los Angeles.”

Related:Waymo California Expansion Gets Greenlight

Despite the growth, Waymo is still not profitable and recently received another $5 billion in funding from Alphabet.