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Waymo recently received a $5bn investment boost from Alphabet, as it continues expanding its robotaxi services in the US.
Alphabet-owned Waymo is pushing forward with its plans to bring its robotaxis onto more roads, by trialing their capabilities on freeways.
The company revealed on X that its employees now have access to fully autonomous rides on San Francisco freeways. Waymo said it is “expanding its operations” after successful testing its autonomous vehicles on freeways in Phoenix.
Waymo’s head of marketing Suzanne Philion shared the update on X and said freeways are a “key unlock to serve riders efficiently in any major city”.
“Very excited to take this first step with our employees on freeways in [San Francisco],” Philion said.
The announcement comes more than a month after Waymo dropped its waitlist in San Francisco, making its robotaxis available to everyone in the city. The company has been focused on expanding steadily across the US this year and got approval in March to significantly expand its driverless taxi operations in the state of California.
Shortly after that approval, the company revealed plans to make its services available in four major US cities this year. By mid-May, Waymo said its robotaxi service had grown to more than 50,000 paid trips each week in the cities of San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Waymo also got a significant boost from its parent company last month, which invested an additional $5bn into its autonomous vehicle venture. This comes less than two years after activist hedge fund TCI urged Alphabet to reduce the annual losses in its ‘Other Bets’ division by 50pc – a division that includes Waymo. TCI claimed enthusiasm for self-driving cars had “collapsed and competitors have exited the market”.
The automated vehicle sector has suffered multiple knocks in the US in recent years, due to accidents and concerns about the safety of these vehicles. Waymo itself issued a voluntary recall of its self-driving software earlier this year, after two of its robotaxis hit a towed vehicle.
But one of the most significant incidents for robotaxis occurred last year with GM-owned Cruise, when one of its robotaxis dragged and pinned a hit-and-run victim in San Francisco. This incident saw Cruise lose its robotaxi privileges in California and cut a significant number of staff.
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