Waymo Drops Waitlist for Robotaxis in San Francisco

Waymo no longer has a waitlist and opened its autonomous ride-hailing service to all residents of San Francisco. This development comes nearly four years after a similar launch in Phoenix, Arizona.

In 2021, Waymo,  Alphabet's self-driving, began a test service in San Francisco, initially including an autonomous specialist on board for all rides. This phase was part of the company’s strategy to commercialize its self-driving technology. Since the inception of its waitlist in the city, approximately 300,000 people have registered to ride with Waymo, indicating a robust demand for autonomous ride-hailing services.

With the removal of the waitlist, San Francisco residents can now request rides through the Waymo app. "Opening up the service to more people who want to pay money to ride in its driverless vehicles is a crucial step toward the normalization of autonomous vehicles," a company spokesperson stated.

Waymo's journey in autonomous ride-hailing began in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2020, where it first offered its service without a waitlist. The company, based in Mountain View, California, was born in 2009 as a project within Google and has since become a pioneer in self-driving technology. In March, Waymo received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to start its Waymo One service in Los Angeles and several cities near San Francisco.

The autonomous vehicle industry is competitive, with rivals such as General Motors-backed Cruise and Amazon's Zoox striving to capture market share. However, this competition comes amid increased scrutiny from auto regulators. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently reported nine additional incidents raising concerns about the performance of Waymo's self-driving vehicles.

Earlier this month, Waymo issued a software and mapping recall for all its vehicles following an incident where one of its robotaxis crashed into a telephone pole. Federal safety investigators are also examining numerous incidents involving Waymo’s vehicles.