California regulators have given the green light to Waymo to expand its fleet of driverless cars into Los Angeles and cities on the peninsula south of San Francisco.
The California Public Utilities Commission granted Waymo’s application for the expansion of its self-driving taxi operations beyond San Francisco, effective immediately. Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet Inc., has been operating its service in Phoenix since 2020.
In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Waymo hailed the commission’s decision as a “vote of confidence in our operations,” signaling the imminent deployment of its commercial Waymo One service in Los Angeles and the SF Peninsula.
While Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have become increasingly familiar on the streets of San Francisco, they have faced criticism for occasional abrupt stops that disrupt traffic flow in the city.
This expansion follows the revocation of a rival robotaxi service’s license by California authorities. General Motors-owned Cruise had its license revoked after regulators deemed its driverless cars operating in San Francisco to be a safety hazard. A Cruise robotaxi was involved in an incident where it ran over a pedestrian hit by another vehicle, subsequently pinning the pedestrian under one of its tires.
However, despite the approval from state regulators, officials in San Mateo County and Los Angeles have expressed opposition to the expansion, advocating for greater local control over the operations of robotaxis.
