Waymo announced that it’s expanding its service by 27 square miles around the San Francisco Bay Area. The expansion will now cover parts of Silicon Valley, including Mountain View, Los Altos, Pal Alto, and parts of Sunnyvale, California. The expansion follows the company’s recent public launch in San Franciso in June.
Initially, service in Silicon Valley will be restricted to Waymo One app users who reside in the eligible ZIP codes. However, the company plans to expand its service to more riders gradually.
Waymo’s Chief Product Officer Saswat Panigrahi expressed his excitement for the launch. “Opening our fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Silicon Valley marks a special milestone in our Bay Area journey,” he said in a statement. “This is where Waymo began and where we’re headquartered.”
The company’s latest expansion will use its fleet of fully electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation self-driving technology. The vehicles use an advanced sensor suite and artificial intelligence to navigate urban environments without driver intervention.
Waymo is the autonomous ride-hailing industry leader, rapidly putting distance between itself and competitors like Tesla, who are planning to enter the market, and Amazon’s Zoox. Currently, Waymo sees roughly 200,000 paid rides weekly across San Francisco, L.A., and Phoenix.
Beyond California, Waymo is aggressively expanding its national presence. On March 4, Waymo expanded its service via Uber to Austin. An anonymous spokesperson told CNBC that the company is also in discussions with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to allow for autonomous drop-offs and pickups.
The company plans to continue its expansion to Atlanta this summer and to Miami shortly after. As the robotaxis gains traction, Waymo is positioning itself as the leading go-to service for seamless, driverless transportation across the United States.
