Alphabet’s Waymo announced that its autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, is now available to everyone in San Francisco, following a similar launch in Phoenix nearly four years ago, Reuters reports.
Waymo began testing in San Francisco in 2021 with a safety specialist on board and has seen strong demand, with about 300,000 people signing up for rides since opening a waitlist. Now, anyone can request a ride via its app. Waymo, which started as a Google project in 2009, launched its first driverless taxi service in 2020. It recently received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to expand to Los Angeles and nearby cities.
Competitors like GM’s Cruise and Amazon’s Zoox are also pushing forward in the autonomous vehicle market, despite regulatory scrutiny and recent concerns raised by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the performance of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles.
