Waymo no longer has a waiting list for its robotaxi service in San Francisco, removing the last hurdle for customers eager to use the self-driving technology.
Waymo said on Tuesday anyone can download the app and then immediately greets one of its robotaxis in San Francisco – a move that mimics the strategy of the Alphabet company in Phoenix, the first driverless taxi market.
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 – Tempo vehicles.
Waymo set up a waiting list, for which almost 300,000 people signed up after approval. Over time, the company opened the service to waiting customers. Because the number of waiting lists has now dropped to a few hundred, Waymo decided to remove them completely.
Waymo received another major approval from the California Public Utilities Commission in March to operate a commercial robotaxi service in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Peninsula and on San Francisco's freeways. Waymo has not yet expanded its driverless commercial operations to San Francisco's freeways or communities on the Greater Peninsula, although the company is conducting tests in those areas. Instead, Waymo's San Francisco fleet of 300 robotaxis are used within the city limits. Waymo has more than 700 robotaxis in its total fleet, spanning commercial markets in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and test locations in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas.
According to Waymo's internal statistics, the service has proven popular. The company said Tuesday it is offering tens of thousands of trips in San Francisco each week, a similar number to Phoenix. Waymo said more than half of its San Francisco customers have used robotaxis to travel to or from medical appointments in recent months, company survey data showed. About 36% used Waymo to connect to other forms of public transportation, such as BART or Muni.
