Waymo Doubles Robotaxi Trips in 3 Months — Is Waymo Finally Scaling Exponentially?
If you thought Waymo was on a roll before, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The robotaxi company under the big Alphabet (formerly Google) umbrella has apparently doubled the number of paid robotaxi trips it is providing in just three months.
Waymo announced yesterday that it is now providing more than 100,000 paid robotaxi trips per week, which is double what the company just reported in May. Is Waymo finally scaling up its self-driving and robotaxi services exponentially?
“We’re building a safer future one ride at a time, and I’m thrilled to share that we’ve just surpassed 100k paid trips per week! Congratulations to the entire Waymo team on this incredible milestone, and thank you to our riders who make this journey possible,” co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana posted on LinkedIn.
A few great user quotes were included in that post as well.
“Technology can sometimes feel like pure magic. Trends that start in California sweep the entire world. Thank you @Waymo for this magical self-driving car experience!” That quote from a user named Atul, interestingly, sounds quite similar to what California Governor Gavin Newsom said about California last night at the Democratic National Convention.
“Every single family member or friend that visits us in San Francisco asks me to take them on a Waymo ride. People love it,” Villi said.
“Just used a crosswalk right in front of a Waymo, and I don’t think a driver has ever waited so patiently and respectfully at that intersection,” someone named Laura noted. Waymo also noted this month that after “over 14.8 million rider-only miles driven, the Waymo Driver was 3.5x better in avoiding crashes that caused injuries and 3x better in avoiding police-reported crashes than human drivers.”
I don’t know when Waymo will be able to scale up its commercial services to the point of profitability, but I’m starting to think we’re not that far away. Alphabet still clearly backs it, announcing a further $5 billion investment in the company last month.
Notably, Waymo is currently the only company in the US offering commercial robotaxi service (Waymo One). The company now has more than 700 vehicles in its fleet.
This progress all comes before two new technological steps forward. Waymo just released its new, 6th-generation “Waymo Driver” system. The system is reportedly much cheaper, was faster to develop, and can handle more extreme weather conditions. The other big technological advancement is the arrival of Zeekr custom-designed robotaxis for Waymo, which it is now testing in California.
Furthermore, the new weekly ridership total comes after opening up the service to anyone in the public in San Francisco a couple months ago and expanding its service area in the San Francisco and Los Angeles metro areas a couple months ago. It’s one growth announcement after another out of Waymo HQ. They must be thrilled at the moment they’ve made it to.
As a final note for the day, members of my family just recently used the Waymo service in San Francisco and absolutely loved it. You can read more about that here.
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