The Alphabet Inc. division overseeing its autonomous driving technology, Waymo, announced on Friday that it had submitted an application to the California Public Utilities Commission for the expansion of its driverless service to Los Angeles. If granted a license, the company, currently conducting tests and offering rides by invitation in the city, would have the opportunity to operate its fleet fully in Los Angeles, in addition to its extensive operations in San Francisco. Waymo has been mapping neighborhoods in LA, including Miracle Mile, Koreatown, and Westwood, since 2019, preparing for a commercial rollout in its second market after Phoenix.
Waymo’s roving vehicles, which look like Chrysler minivans or Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, are outfitted with cameras, laser lidar units, and other sensors. Passengers can hail the robot taxis via an app, paying a fare similar to what they would pay for a ride on apps from Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc. The vehicles can also take onboard self-driving cameras to record interactions with pedestrians, bicyclists, and other cars.
In recent weeks, as Waymo’s fleet of automated vehicles has plucked up customers in Santa Monica and Venice Beach, fears have grown among some Los Angeles officials about the impact the technology could have on traffic and safety. They’ve been urging state regulators to be more vigilant and insist that the companies have a more significant say in how they’re regulated. They’ve tallied up incidents in which autonomous cars have snarled traffic, interrupted emergency scenes, and blocked bus routes while clashing with bikes and pedestrians.
But because the state regulates the industry, city officials have little clout. Instead, they’ve lobbied for increased scrutiny of the AVs while warning that it’s only a matter of time before a fatal accident occurs.
The application filed on Friday lays out the terms under which Waymo would seek to charge for its service in Los Angeles, including a much larger city area than its current San Francisco Bay Area operations. The company has already begun laying the groundwork for this expansion, announcing six multi-week “tour stops” where Angelenos can hop into a driverless vehicle without a human in the front seat. Interested residents can snag tickets at various pop-up events around town or sign up on a waitlist.
The first of the tour stops is in Santa Monica and Venice Beach this week. After that, it moves to Century City, then the West Hollywood neighborhood of Westwood, and finally, Downtown Los Angeles. The area in which Waymo’s vehicles are programmed to operate is about a third of the size of its current operating domain in San Francisco and a fifth of the size of its operation in Phoenix.
