Waymo

Customers who book a robotaxi to select LA transit stations can get a $3 credit that can be applied to future Waymo rides. The promotion will run February 4-April 1, and is specifically geared toward helping LA residents get to LAX via bus. (Waymo still isn’t making airport runs in LA, nor does it operate on the freeways — yet.) Waymo says the promotion will help it learn how customers use (or don’t use) its self-driving cars as first- and last-mile options for public transportation. But some experts worry that autonomous vehicles will siphon riders from transit, which could lead to service cuts.

Waymo just flipped the switch from supervised to unsupervised in Atlanta, where it aims to eventually launch a commercial robotaxi service later this year through an exclusive partnership with Uber. But for now, the Alphabet-owned company’s vehicles will only be available to employees. Waymo is currently operating in San Francisco, Phoenix, and LA, and is still operating under a waitlist in Austin. Also on deck: Miami.

It’s a big move for the robotaxi company, especially if they want to cut down on trip times amid competition with Uber and other human-powered services. The company said that a 17 mile trip from Santa Monica Pier to the Broad museum utilizing Interstate 10 would be 50 percent faster than local roads. Waymo has been slowly expanding its geofence to include more freeways, most notably in Phoenix.

This time it occurred during an “illegal” street takeover near the Beverly Center in LA. Video from Fox 11 shows a crowd of people basically dismantling the driverless car piece by piece, and then using the broken pieces to smash the windows. This is going to happen more frequently as these cars spread to more cities, but obviously you are taking a huge risk when vandalizing a car that it literally covered in cameras.

This week, the Biden administration finalized a rule that effectively bans connected vehicles from China. So naturally some of us were wondering how that would affect Waymo’s next-gen robotaxis, which are built by Zeekr in China. Now that it’s had a few days to review the rule, Waymo assures us that everything’s cool.

Can self-driving shuttles give people a reason to ride the bus or a train? Waymo says it will test the idea with a credit for riders who connect “to or from eligible Bay Area transit stations.”

Remember that nightly parade of honking robotaxis captured by Sophia Tung? The resolution is even more nerdy that you could hope.

Starting this week, certain members of the public will be able to hail a ride in one of the company’s autonomous Jaguar I-pace vehicles. The service area covers 37 square miles of Austin, where Waymo has been piloting its ridehail service with employees since last year. And the full commercial launch of Waymo’s robotaxi service will start “early next year” — and will be available exclusively in the Uber app.

The Waymo car was trying to make a turn and stopped as Vice President Harris’ motorcade was arriving at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, halting the motorcade, according to The San Francisco Standard.

South Korea’s Electronic Times reports that the two companies met three times at Waymo’s headquarters in California to discuss “contract manufacturing of robotaxis.” Waymo is said to be looking for a “replacement” for its Zeekr vehicles, which could become more costly to procure thanks to Biden’s tariffs. Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher declined to comment on the report.

After almost two years of testing and a gradual phase-in program, Waymo says its finally ready to provide 24/7 robotaxi service at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. It’s a pretty big milestone, given how financially essential airports trips are for all human-powered ridehail and taxi services. Waymo also recently completed its 100,000th trip to the airport, and is available for curbside pickup at Terminals 3 and 4. Airport pickups are typically pretty chaotic. So, good luck robots!

The robotaxi company says its doing 100,000 paid trips a week, up from 50,000 a week last May. This comes after the company got rid of its waitlist in San Francisco, and expanded its service area in the city. Saswat Panigrahi, chief product officer, had this to say about the milestone:

Sophia Tung, who runs a 24/7 livestream of a Waymo parking lot, says on Reddit she’ll interview the director, Vishay Nihalani on the stream on Monday at 2:30PM PT / 5:30PM ET.

The Alphabet-owned company is taking its robotaxis to snowier climes, namely “Truckee, CA; Upstate New York; and across Michigan–from the Upper Peninsula to the metro Detroit area,” according to a post on X. So far, most driverless companies have avoided locations with messy weather, as rain and snow can really mess with the vehicle’s perception systems. But you can’t operate in dry, desert conditions forever and have a successful business.

During Alphabet’s earnings call on Tuesday, CFO Ruth Porat said the company will “commit to a new multi-year investment of $5 billion” into Waymo, which has launched its robotaxi service in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

The robotaxi company now covers 315 square miles in Metro Phoenix, making it “the largest autonomous ride-hail territory in the United States” — a totally real and not-at-all-made-up superlative. Even so, the incremental growth shows that Waymo is getting more confident in its driverless capabilities. But some argue the real confidence is when it can start adding multiple new cities in a year. And Waymo still feels like it’s not quite there yet.