The California Public Utilities Commission on Friday gave Waymo the green light to expand its driverless robotaxi service to Los Angeles and much of the Peninsula.
Google’s sister company applied in January to offer service in the additional areas. Despite objections from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Mateo County and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, the CPUC found that Waymo’s expansion plan met the commission’s requirements.
“Waymo’s updated (passenger safety plan) is complete … and is reasonable for its planned service,” the CPUC said in a letter to the company Friday. It continued: “Waymo may begin fared driverless passenger service operations in the specified areas of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Peninsula, effective today.”
The company intends to expand its service incrementally and to “work closely” with community leaders and local officials as it does so, spokeswoman Julia Ilina said in an emailed statement.
“We’re grateful to the CPUC for this vote of confidence in our operations,” Ilina said. She continued: “We’re looking forward to bringing the benefits of fully autonomous ride-hailing to more people.”
Ilina declined to say when Waymo planned to begin offering service in new areas.
The CPUC’s decision comes about a week after the commission notified Waymo it needed more time to review the company’s request to expand service. At the time, the CPUC warned the company it might need until June 16 to decide.
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The commission originally had 30 days to give the company an answer. But it needed additional time to review the 86 comments it received in response to the proposal, CPUC spokesman Terrie Prosper said in an email.
CPUC’s move comes amid growing controversy about autonomous vehicles’ fitness to be on public roads. Waymo began charging for driverless robotaxi rides less than seven months ago, immediately after the commission approved it and Cruise’s applications to begin offering such service. The commission later suspended Cruise’s offering following an accident in which one of the company’s vehicles ran over a woman and dragged her 20 feet. Meanwhile, a Waymo vehicle ran into a bicyclist in Potrero Hill last month.
Waymo currently offers robotaxi service throughout San Francisco and in the northern parts of Daly City and Brisbane. Thanks to the CPUC decision, the company can now offer its service from there south to Sunnyvale, essentially between Interstate 280 and the Bay. It can also provide service in the Los Angeles area, from the shoreline to East Los Angeles and from Hollywood in the north to Gardena in the south.
The public agencies and organizations that objected to the expansion largely opposed the process by which CPUC reviews such requests, according to the commission.
The opposing groups wanted the commission to gather more evidence concerning the matter and to give the public greater opportunity to comment on it. They also sought to have the CPUC delay a decision pending the outcome of a bill in the state legislature that would give localities more control over the deployment of autonomous vehicles within their borders.
The CPUC rejected those requests.
In addition to the objections, the commission received 81 comments in support of Waymo’s expansion, including from business groups such as the Bay Area Council, TechNet and the California Chamber of Commerce, as well as from advocacy groups such as the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
