Waymo is kicking off the process of making its robotaxi service in Silicon Valley commercially available to everyone. The company announced today that its ride-hailing app Waymo One will now be available 24/7 to certain customers across 27-square-mile service area in California that includes Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos, and parts of Sunnyvale, The Verge reported.
Previously, Waymo’s autonomous vehicles were only accessible to the company’s employees for trips across Silicon Valley, which includes Google and Waymo’s respective headquarters. That contrasts with Waymo’s publicly available 24/7 robotaxi service a few miles north in San Francisco.
Initially, Waymo’s robotaxies will only be available on an invite-only basis to a select group of Waymo One customers whose zip codes are within the service area. The company will gradually add more riders over time, and recommends keeping an eye on the Waymo One app for future updates on access.
The news follows the launch of Waymo’s first collaboration with Uber in Austin, where Uber customers can be matched with a Waymo robotaxi within a defined service area. Waymo’s partnership with Uber will eventually expand to Atlanta later this year, but the company is still operating its own ridehailing app in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
SFGATE reported: Waymo will first offer rides to “select Waymo One riders who live in the service area,” with a plan to expand that group “gradually,” spokesperson Ethan Teicher told SFGATE. An employee wrote on X that users can open the app in the service area to join a waitlist.
The new service map doesn’t include Stanford University’s campus in Palo Alto, but Waymo rides will now reach multiple Caltrain stations in the area, Google’s headquarters and Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, along with a swath of suburban neighborhoods.
In a press release, Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo’s chief product officer, said, “Opening our full year autonomous ride-hailing service in Silicon Valley marks a special milestone where we’re headquartered. Now we’re bring in seamless rides, safer streets, an sustainable transportation to our local community.”
Engadget reported: Waymo is expanding to new (but actually old) territory. Waymo One service will soon be available in more of the San Francisco Bay Area, specifically Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto and parts of Sunnyvale.
The company spent several years testing its self-driving cars in Mountain View, the city where its headquarters is located. According to TechCrunch, Waymo One will be available across 27 square miles of Silicon Valley, in addition to the 55 square miles it covers elsewhere in the Bay Area, including San Francisco.
This is the latest in a string of expansions for the company. Waymo has been up and running in Los Angeles and Phoenix for a while. It started offering robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas last week, just in time for SXSW. Miami and Atlanta are also on the docket. Waymo said in January that it planned to test its vehicles in 10 new cities this year, including Las Vegas and San Diego.