After Cruise, the General Motors robotaxi spinoff, pulled its self-driving cabs from the streets of San Francisco last year following an incident involving a pedestrian, residents of the Golden Gate City wanting to ride in an autonomous taxi had only one option left.
That was to sign up on a waitlist for Cruise’s rival, the Alphabet-owned Waymo, and then hope to get a spot on said list. But that system is now a thing of the past, as the white, driverless Jaguar I-Pace EVs operated by Waymo can now pick up anyone in SF who has the app installed (and has requested a ride, obviously).
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Waymo vs. Cruise vs. Tesla
GM's Cruise robotaxi service was poised to take over the streets of the United States with its driverless, battery-powered Chevrolet Bolt EVs. But a series of mishaps forced the AV spinoff to scale down its operations. Tesla is also talking about joining the robotaxi game, but until now nothing concrete happened, leaving just Waymo on the playing field, at least in the U.S.
The driverless cab company said that nearly 300,000 people signed up for its waitlist in San Francisco. Now, though, with the floodgates opening, all 800,000 residents can hail a robotaxi from the Waymo One smartphone app.
But with a fleet of only 300 cars in SF, the AV operator might have a logistical problem on its hands, with long wait times possible for customers who requested a pick up by a driverless Jaguar.
Waymo has had a presence in the Bay Area since 2019 and started charging for rides last year after getting approval from the local government. In March, the Alphabet-owned entity secured another important approval that allows it to operate a commercial robotaxi service in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Peninsula and on San Francisco freeways.
That said, the company didn’t expand its operations to freeways and the greater peninsula, with its local fleet serving customers within SF city limits. In total, Waymo has about 700 autonomous Jaguar I-Pace EVs that are deployed in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. A few are also used for testing purposes in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas.
The company said Tuesday that its self-driving cabs give thousands of rides every week in both San Francisco and Phoenix, with more than half of customers in SF using its robotaxis in the past couple of months to travel to or from medical appointments. Furthermore, Waymo said that its cars have driven over 3.8 million miles since being deployed on the streets of San Francisco.
