Alphabet Inc. autonomous driving division Waymo announced on November 12 that its commercial robotaxi service is fully open to the public in Los Angeles. Anyone in the designated operating area can download the Waymo One mobile application to summon a fully autonomous vehicle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without waiting on an access queue. The commercial operational geofence encompasses nearly 80 square miles of Los Angeles County, extending from Santa Monica and Venice on the Pacific coast through Culver City and Koreatown to Downtown Los Angeles. Nearly 300,000 residents had registered on the local waiting list prior to the general public opening.
Waymo began commercial paid operations in Los Angeles earlier in 2024 after securing operating permits from the California Public Utilities Commission. During the initial phased access period, enrolled riders completed hundreds of thousands of paid driverless trips across local surface streets. According to passenger survey data released by the company, riders in Los Angeles awarded the autonomous service an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. Survey findings indicated that 98% of respondents expressed general satisfaction with the driverless experience, while 96% reported that the service proved practically useful for local urban mobility.
Los Angeles represents Waymo's third commercial metropolitan market operating without a waitlist, joining Phoenix, Arizona, and San Francisco, California. Across its national operations, Waymo's driverless fleet serves more than 150,000 paid rides each week.
To fund its accelerating commercial buildout, Waymo closed an oversubscribed $5.6 billion external investment round in late October. The funding round was led by parent company Alphabet alongside Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity Management & Research, and Silver Lake. The fresh capital will support commercial service rollouts scheduled for Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, through a commercial operational partnership with Uber Technologies.
