The Waymo One autonomous ride-hailing service is expanding in Metro Phoenix and San Francisco in the USA. Having opened the service to the public in 2020, Waymo One now serves 466km2 of The Valley following the expansion, making this the so-called ‘largest fully autonomous service area in the world’.
The service area within Metro Phoenix is being doubled to connect the downtown and East Valley territories, including Scottsdale, most of Tempe and more of Chandler and Mesa. Waymo has opened a second location at the new 24th Street PHX SkyTrain Station to enable pickup and drop-off at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Waymo One is also being expanded in San Francisco, with the company’s Trusted Testers now able to use the autonomous service to access Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach 24 hours a day. In late 2022 Waymo began offering rider-only trips and is currently awaiting its final permit to offer a paid service.
“Waymo One remains the only and largest 24/7 fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the world – serving thousands of rides in multiple key markets – and we’re scaling quickly,” said Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo’s chief product officer. “These latest expansions in Metro Phoenix and San Francisco will help us provide more trips to more riders in more places, and are a big step forward on the road to growing our business.”
At present, the Waymo One service is completing 10,000 trips per week to public riders, not including employees. Thanks to this latest expansion, the company predicts that this number could be 10 times bigger by next summer.
“When it comes to transportation options, convenience, safety and efficiency are key for Scottsdale’s 9.7 million annual visitors,” said Stephanie Pressler, director of community and government affairs at Experience Scottsdale. “Experience Scottsdale is excited that our visitors and residents alike will soon have a new option in Waymo as they move throughout Old Town Scottsdale’s shopping, entertainment, historic and arts districts, as well as travel to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.”
Over the coming months, Waymo aims to grow its ridership and increase capacity in San Francisco and Metro Phoenix. Knowledge gained from these operations will then be applied to the company’s rider-only testing operations in Los Angeles.
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