Waymo is hitting the highway. Here’s what to know about the robotaxi’s expanded service

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Waymo is hitting the highway. The company said starting Wednesday its robotaxis — already a common sight on some city streets — are expanding their routes to freeways and interstates around San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. And in the Bay Area, riders can now get dropped off or picked up curbside in driverless cars at San Jose Mineta International Airport. Other regions will get highway service soon, Waymo said.

Expanded service for driverless cars

The highway rollout will be gradual in LA, where Waymo cars with nobody in the driver’s seats are increasingly common downtown and in many residential neighborhoods. But around San Francisco as of this week, the expansion encompasses the entire peninsula to the south of the city, including Silicon Valley hot spots like Palo Alto and Mountain View. Passengers can now hail an autonomous sedan near San Francisco City Hall and take it 45 miles (72 km) on U.S. 101 to San Jose’s airport. Waymos are currently being tested at San Francisco International Airport for eventual curbside service there.

Before deciding to compete against conventional ride-hailing pioneers Uber and Lyft in California, Waymo — owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet — unleashed its robotaxis in Phoenix in 2020. Now it has extended the reach of its service to highways around that Arizona city.

Down the road, passengers in Atlanta and Austin, Texas, will be able to take freeway rides, the company said.

Waymo has little competition so far

Waymo has come a long way since Google began working on self-driving cars in 2009 as part of project “Chauffeur.” Since its 2016 spinoff from Google, Waymo has established itself as the leader in a robotaxi industry that’s slowly getting more congested.

Amazon announced in June that it’s gearing up to make as many as 10,000 robotaxis annually at a plant near Silicon Valley as it prepares to challenge Waymo. Amazon began eyeing the market five years ago when it shelled out $1.2 billion for self-driving startup Zoox. In September, Zoox launched its robotaxi service in Las Vegas on a limited basis.

Electric auto pioneer Tesla has said it aims to launch a rival “Cybercab” service by 2026. The projected timeline for competing against Waymo has been met with skepticism because Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made unfulfilled promises about the company’s self-driving car technology for nearly a decade.

General Motors late last year retreated from the robotaxi business and stopped funding its money-losing Cruise autonomous vehicle unit. Instead the Detroit automaker is focusing on development of partially automated driver-assist systems for personal vehicles like its Super Cruise, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel.

Autonomous vehicles are doing many jobs

Residents of San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities who order a pizza or burrito on DoorDash might have it delivered by a robot that the company has dubbed Dot. Soon people in Phoenix will also get Dot deliveries as the company expands its autonomous service. The robot can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour and travel on streets, sidewalks and driveways. Dot is bright red, resembles a big baby stroller and is large enough to handle up to six large pizza boxes or 30 pounds of cargo.

San Francisco-based DoorDash decided to develop its own robot after finding that other delivery machines on the market, which are mostly designed for short runs on college campuses or urban sidewalks, weren’t capable of operating in suburban neighborhoods.

DoorDash has also been testing drone delivery for several years in Australia, Texas and North Carolina.

On a larger scale, the shipping giant Maersk uses driverless electric cargo handlers at four terminals at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s largest dockyard.

Safety concerns

The proliferation of autonomous vehicles has of course raised safety concerns. A new California law that kicks in next year will help authorities to hold driverless car companies responsible for traffic violations. Supporters of the legislation say it is an essential step toward bringing liability and enforcement measures in line with advancing technology.

The law comes after police in San Bruno, south of San Francisco, tried to ticket a self-driving vehicle for an illegal U-turn earlier this year. The police department said in a now-viral social media post that officers stopped the vehicle, but declined to write a ticket as their “citation books don’t have a box for ‘robot’.” Police contacted Waymo to report what they called a “glitch,” and in the post, they said they hope reprogramming will deter more illegal moves.

Waymo has said the company’s autonomous driving system is closely monitored by regulators.