Waymo, Google’s autonomous driving subsidiary, is significantly expanding its robotaxi service to Los Angeles, building on its successful San Francisco and Phoenix launches. With the introduction of the Waymo One app in LA, users can now access fully autonomous ride services 24/7 for a fee.
On Tuesday, Waymo announced that its service would be available to all Los Angeles residents.
After receiving approval from California regulators, the company began offering paid rides in select parts of LA this March. Since launching commercial operations in the city, around 300,000 people have joined the waiting list, highlighting the service’s growing popularity. However, due to limited coverage and capacity, only a small fraction of applicants were able to use the service initially.
In both San Francisco and Phoenix, users can access Waymo’s robotaxis without restrictions. In San Francisco, Waymo operates across the entire city. In Los Angeles, the service currently covers approximately 80 square miles (129 km²) of the county, with plans to expand further. Once fully expanded, Los Angeles will become the largest U.S. city with active robotaxi operations.
With a population of about 3.8 million, Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the U.S., after New York. The greater Los Angeles area, including LA County, has a population of approximately 9.7 million, making it the most populous county in the country.
CNBC recently hailed Waymo’s LA expansion as the largest in robotaxi history. In October, Waymo raised $5.6 billion in funding to fuel further growth of its robotaxi operations.
While Waymo is currently the dominant player in the robotaxi industry, the landscape is changing. Tesla, the U.S. electric vehicle giant, is gearing up to challenge Waymo’s leadership. On October 10, Tesla unveiled the prototype for its new robotaxi, the CyberCab. Tesla plans to launch its robotaxi service next year, initially operating in California and Texas using its existing vehicle fleet.
