ByBrad Templeton,
Senior Contributor.
Waymo’s recent expansion to freeways and most of the San Francisco Peninsula has prompted many to ask when they will get robotaxi service? Waymo has announced intentions for a number of towns. They just started unsupervised operation in Miami, and will do so in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando in the coming weeks, with rides for the public next year. They have also announced plans for Washington, San Diego, Detroit, Nashville and Las Vegas and today have live service in the whole SF peninsula, Phoenix, L.A., Austin and Atlanta. They’ve also been testing in New York, London, Tokyo and several other cities. Zoox also started very limited pubic passenger operations in San Francisco, adding to their limited stop service in Las Vegas. Tesla has no working robotaxi yet, but keeps saying it will offer several soon, and Elon Musk imagines they will grow even faster than Waymo once they get it working. In China, Baidu is doing almost as many rides as Waymo and the 3 core companies there support a number of cities, plus there are plans for the UAE and Europe.
Even in the Bay Area, there are major areas not served, including most of San Jose, the entire East and North bay regions, and places like Santa Cruz, Pacifica and the wealthy hill towns. Still lots of L.A. to be served as well.
