Google pulls ahead of Amazon in robotaxi race
Google’s Waymo One autonomous ride-hailing service has moved out of pilot stage in a major West Coast city.
Anyone in any part of San Francisco can now hail a ride with a self-driving “robotaxi’”provided by Waymo, the Google autonomous vehicle subsidiary. Customers in San Francisco can download the Waymo app and order a ride.
Waymo has been operating in San Francisco for years, scaling its Waymo One robotaxi service over time and carrying out tens of thousands of weekly trips. According to the company, 300,000 people, more than 25% of San Francisco’s total population, have signed up to ride with Waymo since it first opened a waitlist.
Waymo has been adding new riders to the service incrementall and is now opening it up to everyone. The Waymo fleet is all-electric and sources 100% renewable energy from San Francisco’s CleanPowerSF program. In addition, Waymo supports Spanish and Chinese languages through its app and in-car features.
“A huge thanks to our many riders, community partners, and the residents of San Francisco for their support on this journey, Waymo said in a corporate blog post. “Together, we’re providing locals and visitors to San Francisco with a safe, clean and fun mobility experience, keeping the city on the forefront of technological innovation.”
Amazon competes with Waymo via Zoox
Waymo is reaching full service to a major city with its robotaxi service before Zoox, a competing autonomous ride hailing technology Amazon purchased in June 2020.
Zoox is geographically expanding its successful 2023 pilot of a purpose-built self-driving robotaxi on open public roads in Foster City, Calif. with no manual controls or human safety driver.
Since that initial pilot in Foster City, Calif., Zoox has continued testing and developing its robotaxi technology in Foster City as well as in Las Vegas. As it prepares to offer autonomous robotaxi rides to consumers later in 2024, Zoox will soon begin testing in two new U.S. markets: Austin and Miami.
Austin and Miami will mark the fourth and fifth public testing locations for Zoox. The company started in its home city of San Francisco in 2018, expanded testing to Las Vegas in 2019, and then moved to Seattle in 2021.
Zoox is not yet deploying its purpose-built robotaxi or offering public rides in Austin or Miami. Target cities for its first commercial markets remain Las Vegas and San Francisco. However, the company says it is exploring several cities for future commercial offerings after initial launch.