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Anyone can now hail a Waymo One robotaxi in San Francisco, marking a significant expansion of Alphabet’s autonomous service.
Unlike in past years, Waymo is available 24 hours a day across San Francisco, regardless of the weather. Every car is electric (currently the Jaguar I-Pace), and the company is keen to tout energy drawn entirely from renewable sources.
Waymo started testing public service in the city in August 2021, but only for pre-approved riders who signed agreements and knew the risks. It opened access to its own staff in March 2022. Until now, everyday commuters who wanted to try One have had to sign up for a waiting list that could take months to process.
Travel was also sometimes restricted to certain hours, regions, and weather conditions, limiting the robotaxis’ usefulness. People in the Phoenix, Arizona area have had unfettered access since 2020.
The expansion is taking place despite ongoing concerns about self-driving car safety. Waymo itself is facing a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation over collisions and traffic law violations, and its driverless taxis caused traffic jams earlier this spring.
GM’s Cruise has also been slowly restoring operations after freezing them following a pedestrian collision in San Francisco last October. California barred Cruise from resuming robotaxi service in the state until certain conditions were met.
Waymo has tried to reassure customers and regulators that its cars are safe ahead of the wider San Francisco rollout. It claimed an “unparalleled” safety record where Waymo Driver (the company’s autonomous driving platform) reportedly reduced accident rates and was better at preventing serious collisions than humans.
Whether or not that data is enough isn’t clear. There’s still substantial resistance to driverless cars, in part because the technology is still young. It can have trouble with emergency vehicles and the many edge-case scenarios on the road. Many people are also leery about trusting AI to drive them around, even if it’s technically safer than a real person.
