"In a first for the U.S., Waymo on Nov. 12 will start offering driverless robot-taxi rides on freeways in the Bay Area, along with Los Angeles and Phoenix. The pioneering Google spinoff will also expand service down the Peninsula all the way into San Jose, and serve riders to and from Mineta San Jose International Airport, creating broad new trip-taking opportunities for residents and visitors. A map showing robotaxi company Waymo's expanded service zone in the Bay Area."
"Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said the Mountain View company had been targeting freeways since Google launched its autonomous vehicle project in 2009. Freeway driving is one of those things that is very easy to learn but very hard to master, Dolgov said last week during a press event preceding Wednesday's public announcement of the freeway service. Dolgov promised Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet and spun off from Google in 2017, would bring a strong focus on system safety and reliability to freeway travel."
"However, some local officials expressed concerns about the vehicles' safety, including state Sen. Dave Cortese, who represents much of Santa Clara County and chafes at local officials' inability to regulate robotaxis. Automated taxis fall under the purview of the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Utilities Commission, including for freeway travel. That's a tremendous risk that Waymo's taking right now, in their ambition to scale as quickly as they can with as little local control as possible"
Waymo will start offering driverless robot-taxi rides on Bay Area freeways beginning Nov. 12, 2025, while maintaining service in Los Angeles and Phoenix. The service area expands down the Peninsula to San Jose and will serve Mineta San Jose International Airport, with availability rolling out to some riders starting Nov. 12 and widening over subsequent weeks. Waymo emphasized system safety and reliability for freeway travel and framed freeway driving as technically challenging to master. State and local officials raised safety and regulatory concerns, noting oversight rests with the state DMV and Public Utilities Commission.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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