Riders in Los Angeles can take fully autonomous rides 24/7 with Waymo One, which is rolling through Santa Monica, Hollywood Boulevard, USC and “everything in between”, the company says, which adds up to nearly 80 square miles of LA County.
Nearly 300,000 people joined Waymo’s waitlist for LA since operations were launched earlier this year with just a select few chosen from this list. Now, anyone with the Waymo One app can hail a driverless ride. Waymo says that a recent survey of LA riders revealed that 98% were satisfied with the service, with 96% stating that they found it useful.
Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO, Waymo, said, “Our service has matured quickly, and our riders are embracing the many benefits of fully autonomous driving. We’re so grateful to all of our first riders in LA, and we can’t wait to serve more riders soon.”
Waymo said it will expand further to cover more of the city in the future. Last month, it announced that Waymo One will be operational in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, from early 2025.
The brand has partnered with Uber to scale operations in USA and has also entered a multi-year, strategic partnership with Hyundai that will see Waymo’s fully autonomous technology integrated into Hyundai’s all-electric Ioniq 5.