Waymo no longer has a waiting list for its robotaxi service in San Francisco, removing the last hurdle for customers looking to use self-driving technology.
Waymo said Tuesday anyone can download the app and soon after I hail one of its robots in San Francisco — a move that mimics the Alphabet-owned company’s strategy in Phoenix, its first driverless taxi market. The announcement comes just a few weeks after Waymo voluntarily issued a software recall on all 672 Jaguar I-Pace robo-taxis after one crashed into a telephone pole. The Alphabet-owned company recalled the previous software in February after two of its robot taxis crashed into the same truck being towed by a trailer.
Waymo has had a presence in the San Francisco area since 2009, but it wasn’t until last year that the company was able to charge customers — 24 hours a day and across the city — for rides in its fleet of self-driving Jaguar I cars. – Speed vehicles.
Waymo created a waiting list, which nearly 300,000 people signed up for, after approval. Over time, the company opened up the service to waiting customers. With waiting list numbers now down to a few hundred, Waymo has decided to remove it altogether.
Waymo secured another key approval in March from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate a commercial robotaxi service in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Peninsula and San Francisco freeways. Waymo has yet to expand its driverless commercial operations to freeways or San Francisco communities to the greater peninsula, though the company is testing in those areas. Instead, Waymo’s San Francisco fleet of 300 robotaxis is used within the city limits. Waymo has more than 700 robotaxis in its total fleet, which is spread between commercial markets in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco as well as test sites in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas.
According to Waymo’s internal statistics, the service has proven popular. The company said Tuesday it gives tens of thousands of trips each week to San Francisco, a similar number to Phoenix. Waymo said more than half of its customers in San Francisco used their robotaxis in the past two months to travel to or from medical appointments, according to data from a company survey. About 36% used Waymo to connect to other forms of transportation, such as BART or Muni.
