Waymo gets approval to launch robotaxi service in L.A.
Driverless cars have been tested in L.A. for more than a year, but now, Waymo has received approval from state regulators to begin robotaxi service with passengers in the near future.
The California Public Utilities Commission approved the driverless car service for Los Angeles and San Mateo counties. Waymo — owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company — will be allowed to operate autonomous vehicles to carry passengers in the next few months.
Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilana told the Washington Post that the company will “take a careful and incremental approach to expansion.” Ilana adds that their autonomous vehicles will not immediately drive on highways in L.A. County.
L.A. residents have a chance to take the autonomous vehicles as a transport service in the coming months. A Waymo driverless taxi stops on a street in San Francisco for several minutes because the back door was not completely shut, while traffic backs up behind it, on Feb. 15, 2023. California regulators are poised to decide whether two rival robotaxi services can provide around-the-clock rides throughout San Francisco, despite escalating fears about recurring incidents that have cause the driverless vehicles to block traffic or imperil public safety. (AP Photo/Terry Chea, file) A Waymo driverless taxi drives on the street during a test ride in San Francisco, on Feb. 15, 2023. Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Waymo, a spinoff from Google, both are on the verge of operating 24-hour services that would transport passengers throughout one of the most densely populated U.S. cities in vehicles that will have no one sitting in the driver’s seat. (AP Photo/Terry Chea) FILE – Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego arrives in a Waymo self-driving vehicle on Dec. 16, 2022, at the Sky Harbor International Airport Sky Train facility in Phoenix. Self-driving car pioneer Waymo announced Thursday, May 4, 2023, that its robotaxis will be able to carry passengers through most of the Phoenix area for the first time. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
However, some local officials are against Waymo being allowed to operate driverless vehicles in L.A. Mayor Karen Bass wrote a letter to the CPUC last November, stating her opposition to the autonomous cars being allowed to transport passengers.
“To date, local jurisdictions like Los Angeles have had little to no input in [autonomous vehicle] deployment and are already seeing significant harm and disruption,” she wrote.
Bass also pointed out an incident from August of 2023 when a Waymo vehicle failed to stop for a traffic officer at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Beaudry Avenue, although no one was injured at the time.
L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn also doesn’t favor CPUC’s ruling.
“This is a dangerous decision,” Hahn wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “These robotaxis are far too untested and Angelenos shouldn’t be Big Tech’s guinea pigs. Decisions like this one should be informed by cities, not made over city objections.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
