Waymo received approval Friday afternoon from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate a commercial robotaxi service in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Peninsula and San Francisco freeways.
He approval removes the last barrier for the Alphabet company to charge for travel in these expanded areas. Importantly, it opens new territory for Waymo in one of the country’s largest cities and unlocks a route to San Francisco International Airport, which is located south of the city.
Waymo has operated 24/7 commercial service throughout the city of San Francisco since receiving commission approval in August. Waymo may also offer free self-drive rides in parts of Los Angeles. But until today’s approval, it could not charge for rides in Los Angeles.
Last month, the CPUC’s Division of Consumer Protection and Compliance suspended Waymo’s request to extend its robotaxi service in Los Angeles and San Mateo counties for up to 120 days to provide additional time for review. The CPUC said it received 81 responses and five protests, which the agency said “required some additional time beyond the 30 days to carefully review and incorporate into the staff decision.” The five protests came from the southern city of San Francisco, San Mateo County, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance.
Waymo, which began a community tour of Los Angeles in October, was wrapping up its latest stop in the neighborhood while awaiting final approval.
Image credits: TechCrunch
The CPUC’s decision comes just a day after Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana discussed the future of the company and the autonomous vehicle industry as a whole. on stage at StrictlyVC LA. He said Waymo robotaxis had received a “warm welcome” in the city with more than 15,000 people using the service. Mawakana said trip data showed customers were using the service for their daily errands, evidence she said suggested the service would do well commercially in Los Angeles.
“It’s exciting to see that about 2,000 of those trips are from people running very, very basic errands, right? Running an errand in a Waymo is like using it for your life,” Mawakana said. “Likewise, people are taking it to restaurants and bars in the same amount, like 2,000 trips. And then 300 of the trips are from people who go to school, college and kindergarten through 12th grade. So we like that sign that people are not only giving us a warm welcome, but they’re really “They are being integrated into their lives.”
He said 50,000 people have joined the waiting list to use the service in Los Angeles.
Mawakana suggested Thursday night that Waymo wouldn’t immediately start charging for rides in Los Angeles if it received approval (which, of course, happened a day later).
“We will expand our service, like we did in San Francisco, before we start charging,” he said. “And I mean, we come in and you can experience this for a couple of months or several months without paying. And then we have that moment of truth, which we went through in San Francisco, where we started charging, and then we calculated how many people [have] They really integrated it into their lives. What is the price they are willing to pay?
You can watch the full interview below.