Waymo doubles where it can drive in Phoenix, expands San Francisco testing

Abner Li | May 4 2023 - 6:08 am PT

Uber and Lyft competitor Waymo One is expanding its service area in Phoenix and testing in San Francisco ahead of getting a paid permit.

Described as a significant expansion, Waymo One is doubling its autonomous service area in Metro Phoenix to cover Scottsdale (“for the first time”) and nearly all of Tempe, as well as “additional access to Chandler and Mesa.”

This joins the previously disconnected downtown and East Valley regions for 180 square miles, which is said to be the “largest fully autonomous service area in the world.” Additionally, Waymo has opened a second pickup/drop off location (at the new 24th Street PHX SkyTrain Station) to access the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

It’s said to be “nearly four times the size of our initial Waymo One service area” during the 2020 public launch.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, those in the Trusted Tester program can now access Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach. Since wider testing started in late 2022, Waymo has “welcomed thousands of external San Franciscans.” To support today’s expansion, recent updates include:

“…we’ve released key software updates to increase the reliability of our service, including improved hand gesture detection, more versatile multi-point maneuvers and enhancements to our driving performance in inclement weather like very heavy fog among other things.”

“We also now allow up to four passengers in our vehicles, delivering more flexibility for our riders and improving the everyday usefulness of our service.”

Over the next few months, we’ll focus our efforts on growing ridership and increasing capacity in San Francisco and Metro Phoenix.

Overall, Waymo One is “serving over 10 thousand trips per week to public riders, not including employees” with a goal of “10 times that scale by next summer.”