Waymo, the autonomous driving technology company, has announced the expansion of its Waymo One ride-hailing service in Metro Phoenix, Arizona, and San Francisco.
The expansion aims to connect more communities and serve more riders by doubling its service area in Metro Phoenix and growing its service in San Francisco.
Waymo self-driving cars with the company logo at the Google-owned company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, on May 8, 2019.
Expanded Coverage in Metro Phoenix
Waymo One is expanding its coverage in Metro Phoenix, encompassing almost all of Tempe, including Scottsdale, for the first time and providing additional access to Chandler and Mesa. This move enables anyone in the area to utilize the Waymo One app to hail a ride.
By expanding to cover 180 square miles of The Valley, the company said that Waymo One had become the largest fully autonomous service area in the world.
To cater to the growing number of riders in this vast metropolitan area, Waymo has opened a new location at the 24th Street PHX SkyTrain Station to provide airport pickup and drop-off service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
In San Francisco, Waymo One will carry on enrolling new riders while giving its Trusted Testers access to more parts of the city, such as Fisherman's Wharf and North Beach. Waymo remains the only company offering autonomous rides to the public for the majority of the city, 24 hours a day.
"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," Saswat Panigrahi, Waymo Chief Product Officer, said in a press release statement.
"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."
Waymo One is currently providing more than 10,000 weekly trips to public riders and aims to increase this figure to 100,000 trips per week by next summer. With over 150 million people using ride-hail services in the US.
Poised for Sustained Growth
The service is well-positioned for sustained growth as it commercializes its technology, with Phoenix and San Francisco being two of the fastest-growing and most lucrative markets.
The expansion has been enabled by the continuous refinement of the Waymo Driver and the implementation of operational efficiencies across its fleet.
The Waymo Driver's performance is attributed to the use of advanced machine learning, real rider feedback, and extensive simulation and on-road autonomous experience.
Waymo has released important software updates to improve service reliability, including better hand gesture detection, more versatile multi-point maneuvers, and enhanced driving performance in challenging weather conditions.
Additionally, the company now allows up to four passengers per vehicle, which provides riders with greater flexibility and makes the service more practical for everyday use.
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