Waymo Expands Driverless Service to Freeways in Los Angeles, Bay Area, and Phoenix
LOS ANGELES – Waymo is now offering fully autonomous rides on freeways within its existing 120-square-mile los Angeles service area, as well as in the San Francisco bay Area and Phoenix, the company announced Wednesday.This expansion marks a significant step for the autonomous ride-hailing service,which has been testing on L.A. freeways with safety drivers since earlier this year.
The move is expected to broaden Waymo’s appeal by enabling longer-distance trips and serving freeway-adjacent communities like santa Monica,Culver City,and downtown Los Angeles. ”This has been a long time in the making, and I could not be more excited to start bringing freeways to our riders,” said waymo co-chief executive Dmitri Dolgov. “It took time to do it properly with a strong focus on system safety and reliability.”
Waymo states that freeway operations are supported by the same artificial intelligence powering its urban driving, designed to handle the complexities of highway conditions.
Alongside the freeway expansion,Waymo is also growing its bay Area coverage to include San josé,creating over 260 square miles of continuous service. The San José service will feature curbside pickup and drop-off at San José Mineta International Airport, joining Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix as the only airports currently accessible via Waymo.
The proclamation comes as competition intensifies in the autonomous vehicle space.Tesla recently announced plans to expand its robotaxi service to the San José airport, following an initial launch in Austin, Texas. Waymo,along with Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox,are all working to deploy and validate self-driving technology.
Waymo has already completed millions of driverless miles in cities including Austin and Atlanta, and plans to expand to Miami and Washington, D.C. The company originated as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, putting its first autonomous car on the road in 2015, before rebranding as Waymo in 2016 under Alphabet and launching Waymo One in 2020.
