Waymo, the autonomous vehicle arm of Alphabet, is allowing all users in San Francisco to take a ride in its robotaxis.
Previously, the company restricted who can use the robotaxis to those “early riders” that had signed up for the ride-hailing service.
The robotaxis take tourists and the public to all corners of the city like restaurants, live music venues, bars, coffee shops, parks and many more locations. Waymo said about 30% of Waymo rides in San Francisco are to local businesses.
Additionally, a survey by the company found that half of the rides in the city used the ride-hailing services for medical appointments and other personal trips. A further 36% of San Francisco riders used Waymo robotaxis to connect to other forms of transit like mass transit trains or mass transit buses.
The move is an interesting one considering the somewhat harsh response the autonomous vehicles have been received by some residents in San Francisco. Many are skeptical of the technology due to the robotaxis having trouble navigating the city causing traffic jams or even going in the opposite direction on a one-way street. The ruckus got so bad that earlier this year, a crowd vandalized and set fire to a Waymo autonomous vehicle in San Francisco.
However, the company is steadfast in its testing of the vehicles in the city and already have 300,000 people that have signed up to ride with Waymo since it opened a waitlist.
Earlier this year, Waymo opened testing in Los Angeles and has been testing for years in Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas.
Waymo is also currently under investigation from the U.S. National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) for 22 incidents involving its autonomous vehicles.