In the U.S., Waymo's self-driving taxis are already transporting passengers in Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco, California. As of now, we can add Los Angeles, California, which becomes the third metropolitan area to offer a service of this kind.
Waymo has been running trials in the City of Angels for a year, offering rides to targeted users. But since Tuesday, November 12, the service has been open to the general public. The waiting list of people wishing to take advantage of the service has reached 300,000.
Clearly, the interest is there.
“Our service has matured quickly and our riders are embracing the many benefits of fully autonomous driving. We’re so grateful to all of our first riders in LA, and we can’t wait to serve more riders soon.”
- Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo co-CEO
The LA service is launching with around 100 Jaguar I-Pace EVs, the same model used elsewhere. These will cover an area of around 135 sq km of Los Angeles County, the company said.
The initial service includes locations such as the Santa Monica Pier and the University of Southern California (USC) campus, but does not yet include Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
The launch of service in Los Angeles is sure to boost what is already a frenetic pace of expansion for the company, as Automotive News reminds us.
At the end of October, Waymo reported an average of 150,000 paid rides per week across all its operations. The figure had only exceeded 100,000 in August. Waymo has announced plans to launch commercial service in Austin, Texas, early next year. Atlanta will follow at a later date.
Challenges remain, however, including high tariffs on electric vehicles from China, so the company can't go there with vehicles from Geely, for example, which offers a model under its Zeekr brand.
However, Waymo has signed an agreement with Hyundai for the possible use of Ioniq 5 SUVs. Trials with these vehicles will not begin until late 2025, however.
Elon Musk's role within the incoming Trump administration could complicate Waymo's situation, as Musk intends to launch his own robotaxi service with Tesla vehicles. Could he come to stand in Waymo's way?
At the moment, Waymo is the only company with hundreds of self-driving vehicles deployed in the real world. The company has around 650 vehicles on the road at its commercial and test sites, according to a company spokesperson.
