Google's Autonomous Driving taxi service Waymo saw a large expansion of its Autonomous Driving permit areas in California.
On the 23rd (local time), the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website showed that the state expanded Waymo's Autonomous Driving service area, which had been limited to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, to the entire Bay Area, including the state capital Sacramento and the north. The state also extended the Autonomous Driving permit area in Southern California, previously confined to around Los Angeles, down to San Diego at the southernmost end of the state.
The permitted vehicles are the Jaguar I-PACE, which Waymo has been operating for its taxi service, and the Zeekr RT from China's Geely Automobile, introduced recently. Waymo can operate driverless Autonomous Driving vehicles 24 hours a day for testing purposes, with no weather-related limits or separate speed restrictions. However, to begin paid transportation services in these areas, it must obtain a separate operating permit from the state Public Utilities Commission.
Waymo said, "The next destination in the Golden State is San Diego, where we plan to start service in mid-next year," but did not say when it would begin paid transportation outside San Diego. Earlier, Waymo recently began operations in Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, and it also launched highway driving service in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
The local newspaper the San Francisco Chronicle noted that this expansion of Autonomous Driving permit areas is the largest in the state's history, assessing that it "could change travel patterns in regions of Northern California that have long struggled with limited public transit options." The paper said, in particular, that wine tasting room owners and commuters traveling to Sacramento are cheering the decision.
Zoox, Amazon's competing Autonomous Driving taxi, is currently operating in downtown Las Vegas and San Francisco, and Tesla is running robotaxis in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco. However, Tesla's robotaxis still operate with a safety operator on board.