Waymo, the self-driving technology company owned by Alphabet Inc., has announced it is significantly expanding its Waymo One ride-hailing service area in Metro Phoenix and also grow its service in San Francisco.
In Metro Phoenix, Waymo One’s service area will double, and the expansion will include Scottsdale for the first time, covering almost all of Tempe and providing additional access to Chandler and Mesa. The service area will now cover 180 square miles, the largest fully autonomous service area in the world, and nearly four times the size of its initial launch in 2020.
Meanwhile in San Francisco Waymo One will welcome new riders and give Trusted Testers access to more of the city, including Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach. The company will continue to offer fully autonomous rides to the public across most of the city, 24 hours a day. The company has already welcomed thousands of external San Franciscans to Waymo One since offering rider-only trips in late 2022 and has tens of thousands more people on its waitlist.
Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo’s Chief Product Officer, said, “Waymo One remains the only and largest 24/7 fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the world – serving thousands of rides in multiple key markets – and we’re scaling quickly. These latest expansions in Metro Phoenix and San Francisco will help us provide more trips to more riders in more places and are a big step forward on the road to growing our business.”
It hasn’t been all smooth riding for Waymo in San Francisco. Several of their Jaguar I-Pace vehicles were confused by the city’s iconic fog. There have also been other incidents during their testing that have impacted local traffic, leading to officials sending letters to California regulators asking them to curb or scale back Waymo’s road testing activities.
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