ALPHABET’S Waymo is expanding its autonomous ride-hailing service areas in San Francisco and Los Angeles to cater to growing demand from customers, the company said on Tuesday (Aug 6).
The announcement comes as rivals such as General Motors and Amazon.com’s Zoox are investing heavily in driverless cars to drive commercial success, even as regulatory scrutiny remains tight.
Waymo One service areas will extend to the San Francisco Peninsula to add Daly City, Broadmoor and Colma. In Los Angeles, the service will include Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, Playa Vista and parts of Hollywood, Chinatown and Westwood.
Alphabet has planned a US$5 billion investment in Waymo over a multi-year period, finance chief Ruth Porat said last month, as the company looks to boost its self-driving unit’s expansion plans.
Waymo put an end to waiting lists in San Francisco last month and opened up its Waymo One service to everyone, about four years after a similar move in Phoenix, Arizona.
Several tech companies are betting big on the future of autonomous driving systems amid concerns about growing investments in the nascent technology, which is expensive and can take years before generating significant revenue.
Uber said on Tuesday that trips by self-driving vehicles on its platform were six times higher in the second quarter, helped by partnerships with companies including Waymo for ride-sharing and food delivery.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also been focusing on artificial intelligence, autonomous driving software, robotaxis and a humanoid robot named Optimus to combat a slowdown in EV sales, which generate about 78 per cent of the automaker’s quarterly revenue. REUTERS
