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Waymo, Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) autonomous driving unit, has launched its commercial robotaxi service for everyone in San Francisco, California.
Rides can be booked on the Waymo One app, available on the App Store and Google Play. “We’ve been operating in San Francisco for years now, deliberately scaling our service over time,” the company said in a blog post.
Waymo began testing its commercial service in the city in 2021 with pre-approved riders. In 2022, it began offering rides for its staff.
Since then, the service opened to customers who signed up for a waitlist. “In total, nearly 300,000 people signed up to ride with Waymo since we first opened a waitlist – more than a quarter of the city’s population,” the company noted.
Waymo now provides more than 50,000 rides a week across three major urban areas. Its ride-hailing robotaxi service was first launched in Phoenix, Arizona in 2020.
The self-driving industry has been facing intense regulatory scrutiny because of multiple crashes involving vehicles of Waymo, GM’s Cruise and Amazon’s Zoox.