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Waymo has opened its robotaxi service to everyone in Los Angeles, ending a waiting list that has grown to 300,000 people.
The Alphabet-backed company said that starting Tuesday, anyone can download the Waymo One app to get a ride within its service area, which now covers about 80 square miles in Los Angeles County.
Waymo has had a presence in Los Angeles since 2019 and regularly appears to map neighborhoods such as Downtown, Miracle Mile, Koreatown, Santa Monica, Westwood and West Hollywood. In 2022 the the company announced Los Angeles would be one of the next commercial markets after Phoenix and San Francisco.
However, Waymo was unable to immediately reverse this business change. In August 2023, the company received final licenses required by the California Public Utilities Commission to operate a commercial service in San Francisco. In March 2024, Waymo Approval has been granted from the CPUC to operate a commercial robotaxi service in Los Angeles and expand the Bay Area area, which included the San Francisco Peninsula and the San Francisco Freeways. Waymo removed from the waiting list for pilots from San Francisco in June.
This latest expansion comes just a week after Waymo announced the increase $5.6 billion in Series C funding roundled by parent company Alphabet. Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake, Fidelity, Tiger Global, Perry Creek and T. Rowe Price joined the round. So far, Waymo has declined to say how much everyone has invested.
The investment brings Waymo’s total value to more than $45 billion. sea Bloomberg News. Alphabet had already announced in July that it would commit an additional $5 billion to Waymo, without providing further details about the “multi-year” commitment.
