Anyone in Los Angeles will be able to digitally hail a Waymo robotaxi beginning Tuesday, but don't expect the driverless vehicle to jump onto a freeway. Waymo announced it will begin Waymo One service in the county on Tuesday, but will limit its vehicles to surface streets, where the startup owned by Google’s parent Alphabet has been testing the sensor-laden cars for months. The service can be accessed 24 hours a day on its app.
The driverless cars have become part of the landscape in San Francisco, where the company holds its largest fleet. Nearly 300,000 people signed up for the Waymo One waitlist in Los Angeles since it debuted this years and 'hundreds of thousands' of trips have been taken, said Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli in an email. In Los Angeles, where getting across town is a cage battle, the vehicles lack of freeway driving could pose a hurdle, making trips longer and more costly.