Waymo Robotaxi Drops Passenger Wait List, Opens Service to Everyone in LA
American autonomous vehicle company Waymo has eliminated the waitlist feature. The decision to remove the waitlist marks a new milestone for the company. According to AP News, this is the first time the company has opened Waymo Robotaxi service to anyone who needs a ride in Los Angeles since it started 15 years ago.
Ride for Everyone
Waymo’s expansion comes about 8 months after the company started offering rides in Los Angeles. Passengers would be selected from a waiting list that had grown to over 300,000 people.
Now that the company has removed the waiting list, any person who has the Waymo One smartphone can request a ride within the 80-square mile territory of Los Angeles city. Waymo One App addresses the safety concerns for customers. Women who are concerned about their safety when riding with human drivers who are not known to them have received the service positively. Parents are increasingly using the app to send teens to school.
“Now is an exciting time to welcome everyone in Los Angeles along for the ride. 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,” Co-CEO of Waymo, Tekedra Mawakana.
With a population of over 3.8 million people, Los Angeles becomes the third and the largest city where Waymo autonomous taxis are fully available.
Gradual Expansion
Over the years, Waymo’s service expansion to US cities has been gradual. The autonomous ride hailing company started operating in Phoenix in the year 2020. The company has since expanded its operations to Austin, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Regulators in California allowed Waymo to charge for rides in the city 15 months ago. Since then, the autonomous car company launched Waymo self-driving services in San Francisco prior to offering limited services in Los Angeles.
Waymo has been expanding its operations rapidly over the last year after it raised additional funding. The Alphabet-backed company raised $5.6 billion in series C funding in October 2024 to enable it to expand its robotaxi service across the US.
Some of the investors who participated in this funding round included Perry Creek, Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake, Terry Global, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price. The company now clocks 150,000 paid rides each week through the Waymo One app.
New Partnerships
Waymo has initiated several partnerships to facilitate its growth. In September 2024, the company said it will be partnering with Uber to introduce its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas this coming year.
The autonomous robotaxi company also entered into a multiyear strategic agreement with Hyundai. Through this new partnership, the company will add the Ioniq 5 electric vehicles made by the South Korean-based company to its robotaxi fleet.
Waymo’s next-generation robocab, Geely Zeekr, comes with an AI driver and custom sensors. The robotaxi is fitted with Waymo’s new Generation 6 self-driving technology unveiled in August 2024. Generation 6 robotaxi technology is capable of handling a range of weather conditions without numerous sensors and cameras on board.
