Waymo Expands Autonomous Taxi Service in LA Following Successful Rollouts
1min read Alphabet's autonomous taxi company, Waymo, has announced that its ride-hailing service, Waymo One, is now open to all users in Los Angeles. This marks the company's largest expansion to date and signifies a period of rapid growth for the business.
The company stated that since it began offering autonomous taxi services to the public in Los Angeles in March, nearly 300,000 people have joined its reservation list, indicating a strong demand for the service.
As time has passed, an increasing number of customers have experienced Waymo One services and have given them high ratings. Waymo claims that the latest survey shows that 98% of customers are satisfied with the service, and 96% find it useful.
It is reported that Waymo completed a round of financing worth $5.6 billion last month, valuing the company at over $45 billion. Despite facing strict regulatory scrutiny, both automakers and tech companies are heavily investing in autonomous driving technology, hoping for greater returns over the longer term.
Waymo opened its autonomous taxi service to all users in San Francisco in June and had already done so in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2020.
Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, said: "We've seen tremendous growth and our riders are embracing the benefits of fully autonomous driving."
Mawakana claimed: "Now is an exciting time to welcome everyone in Los Angeles along for the ride. Our service has matured quickly and our riders are embracing the many benefits of fully autonomous driving. We're so grateful to all of our first riders in LA, and we can't wait to serve more riders soon."
In addition, Waymo revealed that the company provides over 150,000 paid services in the U.S. each week, a significant increase from the 100,000 in August.
Looking ahead, Waymo plans to continue expanding its service rapidly to cover more cities. Waymo stated that it will work closely with local community partners to achieve its mission of making roads safer and transportation more convenient.
At present, Waymo is the most dazzling autonomous taxi company in the U.S., leading the industry. Waymo currently has about 700 autonomous vehicles and operates the only commercial autonomous taxi service in the U.S. — Waymo One.
Tesla announced last month that its autonomous taxi, Cybercab, will be mass-produced in 2026, and the company will launch ride-hailing services in Texas and California in 2025, indicating that the competition in the autonomous taxi field is becoming increasingly fierce.