Waymo has announced plans to commence testing in several new cities within the San Francisco Bay Area, following recent approval for expansion earlier this year.
Having received official approval to extend its operations to Los Angeles and additional areas of the San Francisco peninsula last month, Waymo revealed on Friday its intention to begin driverless ride testing in seven new Bay Area cities in the “coming weeks,” as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Although the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) granted Waymo permission to expand its paid driverless services to up to 22 cities on the peninsula, the company will initially focus on launching operations in Brisbane, Burlingame, Colma, Daly City, Millbrae, San Bruno, and South San Francisco this month.
Initial testing in these new cities will be limited to employees initially, but Waymo anticipates extending the service to customers and offering paid rides in the future.
Despite these expansions, Waymo is facing legal challenges from various entities, including the City of South San Francisco, San Mateo County, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, and the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance. Additionally, a bill introduced earlier this year in the state legislature could potentially grant individual communities more authority over the operation of driverless vehicles, potentially limiting Waymo’s service areas.
Waymo’s original approval for operating paid robotaxi services 24 hours a day in San Francisco was granted in August, alongside a similar authorization for General Motors’ self-driving subsidiary, Cruise. However, heightened scrutiny of driverless ride-hailing services followed an incident in October involving a Cruise robotaxi striking, dragging, and pinning a pedestrian, leading to the immediate suspension of the company’s driverless vehicle permit.
This announcement coincides with Tesla’s recent disclosure of plans to introduce its own robotaxi platform in August, based on its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. Tesla has already previewed screenshots from an upcoming ride-hailing app, and the FSD system is expanding beyond North America, with plans for implementation in China.
