Waymo’s San Francisco Robotaxi Waiting List Has Thousands of People, Co-CEO Says

Waymo is among the smaller companies around the world with billions of dollars in funding to develop self-driving cars and trucks.

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San Francisco, Waymo, a city of about 900,000 people. is only the second test site for passenger service for

Waymo has given robotaxi rides to hundreds of people since its trial rollout in San Francisco in August, with thousands more residents on waiting lists, the Alphabet Inc company co-chief executive said Friday at a Reuters Next conference.

Waymo is among the smaller companies around the world with billions of dollars in funding to develop self-driving cars and trucks.

But progress towards mass service has been slow. San Francisco, a city of about 900,000 people, is the second test site for passenger service for Waymo, founded in 2009.

“We’re building a business. So we’re really focused on commercializing this technology,” said co-CEO Takedara Mwakana, looking into ride hailing, trucking, local delivery and then eventually How to tap the markets For personal car ownership.

Waymo began offering autonomous rides in San Francisco in August to a limited number of people with safety drivers using its Jaguar electric vehicles, which are free of charge.

Waymo deliberately selected diverse testers, Mawakana said, to ensure the response is representative of the broader population. For example, half of its San Francisco riders are women.

“In San Francisco, we were very focused on making sure there was gender diversity because safety and transportation is such an issue. Not only safety on the roads, but physical safety as well,” she said.

The company has been offering paid rides in driverless minivans outside Phoenix since October 2020 and has been hauling freight using autonomous semi-trucks in Texas for several months.

In September, Waymo and rival Cruises, backed by General Motors Co., received one of two regulatory permits to offer autonomous rides to passengers in California.

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Beginning next year, Waymo will deliver groceries ordered from a Safeway store in San Francisco to select Waymo and Safeway employees.

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