Waymo’s fleet of robotaxis is now available to anyone in LA

Alphabet Inc.-owned Waymo LLC announced today that its autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, is now available to everyone in Los Angeles.

With a $5.6 billion funding round last month, Waymo is hoping to improve its autonomous driving system, Waymo Driver, while expanding to the more cities around the U.S. Some of those include Buffalo, New York and Washington, D.C.

The new taxis will cover 80 square miles of Los Angeles County where the public won’t have to contend with a waitlist, a list some 300,000 people had joined when Waymo first announced its robotaxis were coming to LA earlier in the year. The main areas the taxis will cover are Chinatown, Hollywood, Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, Playa Vista and Westwood,

“Now is an exciting time to welcome everyone in Los Angeles along for the ride,” said Waymo co-Chief Executive Tekedra Mawakana. “Our service has matured quickly and our riders are embracing the many benefits of fully autonomous driving.”

Earlier this year, San Francisco also opened its arms to Waymo autonomous taxis, which seem to have become a big hit with residents, despite a couple of accidents. The company’s other main testing area has been Phoenix, Arizona.

Perhaps an issue for LA’s residents, who are to a large degree quite reliant on vehicles, is that Waymo’s cars won’t be traveling down highways and won’t be taking anyone to Los Angeles International Airport. Given the fact Waymo is saying its driverless cars are being used by 150,000 people per week in all markets, it seems people are willing to experience the novelty of a robotaxi. They might also like the fact that they can choose the music and set the temperature.

Waymo may soon have competition from Tesla Inc., whose owner Elon Musk said in October that he hopes to release robotaxis in Texas and California sometime in 2025.

Photo: Waymo