The California Public Utilities Commission has approved Waymo’s request to expand its autonomous robotaxi service area, paving the way for the Alphabet-owned company to bring driverless ride-hailing vehicles into more communities south of San Francisco.
While this approval is a significant milestone, Waymo has clarified that it won’t immediately change its current plans. Currently, Waymo operates a commercial robotaxi service throughout all of San Francisco and parts of the Peninsula. The company also offers driverless rides to paying customers in several Silicon Valley cities, including Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Sunnyvale. Overall, Waymo’s service covers approximately 85 square miles, encompassing San Francisco and key Silicon Valley neighborhoods.
Excitingly, Waymo announced that the CPUC has approved their application to operate fully autonomous ride-hailing services in the South Bay and nearly all of San Jose. Although this won’t impact their operations right away, it marks a major step toward expanding their presence in the region.
Waymo is also exploring opportunities at San Francisco International Airport. Although their plans are still in the early stages, they received a temporary permit in March to map the airport’s roadways. During this phase, Waymo employees will manually drive the vehicles to gather mapping data, with autonomous operation at the airport expected to follow in the future—signaling a long-term goal of offering driverless rides at SFO.
Currently, Waymo provides around 250,000 paid trips weekly across its service areas, which now include Los Angeles, Phoenix, and more recently, Austin. With these expansions and ongoing developments, Waymo continues to lead the way in autonomous ride-hailing innovation.
