Self-driving taxi startup Waymo recently announced that its driverless vehicles will start transporting customers around the streets of San Francisco in the coming weeks.
In doing so, Waymo will become the first and only company to offer a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in multiple cities simultaneously. Waymo is already operating in downtown Phoenix and Phoenix’s East Valley. It began testing its technology in San Francisco last year.
San Francisco residents who are interested in taking a driverless ride can download the Waymo One app and join the waitlist.
“We couldn’t have made this progress without the enthusiasm and feedback of our riders in Metro Phoenix and our Trusted Testers, who’ve taken over 20,000 trips in San Francisco since August 2021,” the company said in a LinkedIn post.
Waymo was born out of Google’s self-driving car project, which began in 2009. In 2016, Waymo became an independent company owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
For its next stop, Waymo will focus on a public launch in Los Angeles.
Waymo typically uses Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Jaguar I-PACE sports utility vehicles for its autonomous cars, but according to The Verge, the company recently unveiled a new passenger-first autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel. The car was designed in collaboration with Zeekr, a car brand owned by Chinese auto manufacturer Geely.
