Paid self-driving car services are coming to Los Angeles, thanks to California regulators’ decision today to allow Alphabet subsidiary Waymo to operate in the city. Under the new ruling, Waymo is also allowed to launch service in much of the San Francisco Peninsula.
The California Public Utilities Commission’s decision is likely to be controversial. This was due to protests from local governments and agencies, including the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, the City of South San Francisco and the County of San Mateo. All agree that local governments and citizens should have more input and oversight into expanded self-driving taxi services.
But California law allows state regulators, not local regulators, to decide where and how self-driving cars can operate in the state, a fact the CPUC cited in today’s decision.
Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina said in a written statement that the company will “take a cautious and incremental approach to expansion by continuing to work closely with city officials, local communities and our partners.” She noted that the CPUC received There were 81 letters from individuals and organizations supporting Waymo’s expansion, including groups representing people with disabilities and business interests.
Irina said the company will take a “gradual approach” to rolling out services in Los Angeles and has “no immediate plans” to expand its commercial services to the San Francisco peninsula.
The decision presents Waymo with perhaps its biggest challenge yet: delivering service in the second most populous city in the United States and coming under scrutiny from government officials who have been skeptical of its technology from the start. Last fall, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass wrote to California regulators saying her city had the technical knowledge and capabilities to determine how and where self-driving cars could operate within their limits. She cited the troubles robo-taxi companies had when they first started operating on San Francisco streets and argued that city officials are best positioned to “maximize the benefits of new transportation technologies and mitigate harm to our diverse communities.”
The California Legislature is considering multiple bills that would give local lawmakers more oversight of self-driving car technology.
Waymo currently operates paid taxi services in the city of San Francisco and the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area. The company has been operating a pilot service in parts of Los Angeles since the fall. Waymo also announced its intention to launch services in Austin, Texas.
The company’s initial Los Angeles service area covers most of the city, from Pacific Palisades to the west, Hollywood to the north, East Los Angeles to the east and Gardena and Compton to the south. In the Bay Area, passengers can now ride robotaxis between San Francisco and Sunnyvale, bounded to the west by Interstate 280.
Self-driving car developers have had a rough few months. Waymo and General Motors subsidiary Cruise were involved in high-profile crashes last summer after both companies were allowed to start collecting fares from passengers in San Francisco. In one incident, a Cruise vehicle failed to avoid a fire truck at an intersection and collided with a fire truck. Two months later, the company was stripped of its license to operate in California after government officials claimed it failed to disclose details of a crash that seriously injured a pedestrian. Cruise has since halted testing nationwide, laid off nearly a quarter of its staff and replaced nearly all of its top executives. Another company, Motional, said it would cut 5% of its workforce this week after a major backer said it would reduce funding.
But at least in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, the future of driverless technology is looking good: Waymo may begin its paid driverless passenger transportation service in the expanded area “effective immediately,” the CPUC wrote.
Updated: March 11, 2024, 7:38 pm ET: This article has been updated to include further comments from Waymo.