You can now hail a driverless robotaxi in San Francisco

Photo from Waymo

SAN FRANCISCO – The wait is over. Anyone can now hail a driverless Waymo robotaxi in San Francisco. Just download the app and ride, Waymo announced on Tuesday.

Waymo said its service in the city is no longer limited to people on their waiting list. Users can hail a Waymo robotaxi through the company’s app.

San Francisco becomes the second city where anyone can hail a driverless car. Waymo’s robotaxi service has been open to the public in metro Phoenix since 2020.

“We’ve been operating in San Francisco for years now, deliberately scaling our service over time. With tens of thousands of weekly trips, our Waymo One service provides safe, sustainable and reliable transportation to locals and visitors to the city alike.,” Waymo said in its announcement.

“Now it’s available to anyone.”

Waymo said about 30 percent of their robotaxi rides in San Francisco are to local businesses, including restaurants, live music venues, bars, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, parks and museums, boosting the local economy.

In a recent survey, over half of the riders said they used Waymo in the past couple of months to or from medical appointments, highlighting the value of personal space during these trips.

Additionally, 36 percent of the San Francisco riders used Waymo to connect to other forms of transit, like BART or Muni. Some of the riders even use Waymo to depart in style from their weddings.

“I’m thankful to be living in a city that embraces technology when it can improve our lives with convenient and safe modes of transit,” says Michelle Cusano, executive director at the Richmond Neighborhood Center.

Waymo’s fleet is all-electric and sources 100 percent renewable energy from the City’s CleanPowerSF program.

Waymo said that since the beginning of their commercial operations in August 2023, their rides have helped curb carbon emissions by an estimated 570,000 kg, contributing to California’s ride hail emissions goals.

“This also empowers our riders to travel more sustainably – Waymo’s recent rider survey revealed that 53 percent of our San Francisco users feel that Waymo has helped them be more environmentally friendly,” Waymo said.

In addition to improving mobility for locals, Waymo offers a unique way for visitors to experience the city. Thousands of tourists have enjoyed the sightseeing from Waymo vehicles, exploring San Francisco’s iconic landmarks from the Presidio to the Ferry Building.

In total, nearly 300,000 people, including those who live, work, and visit San Francisco, have signed up to ride with Waymo since the company first opened a waitlist – more than a quarter of the city’s population.