Effective today, the self-driving taxi cars of Waymo are giving paid rides into Daly City and Colma, but they still can’t drive on US 101 or I-280, and they cannot drive you to the SF International Airport.
The controversial but increasingly ubiquitous self-driving car company recently ditched their waitlist and allowed anyone to hail a paid ride for one of their cars in San Francisco. That was a huge milestone the company reached here in late June, and they follow it up today with a smaller but not-insignificant milestone. The Bay Area News Group reports that Waymo just expanded its service into Colma, Daly City, and Broadmoor, and again, anyone with the Waymo One app can hail a ride.
But the self-driving Waymo cars can’t go to SF International Airport, nor can they drive on US 101 or I-280. As the Chronicle explained in March (and it’s still true), Waymo has not yet secured permits to operate at SFO, and is still in the testing phase when it comes to driving on highways and freeways. So Waymo can only operate on “surface" roads, or basically, normal city streets, and not at high speeds.
![](https://img.sfist.com/2024/08/SF_map_expansion-overlay_1920x1080.png.jpg)
This Peninsula expansion is not particularly huge, as we see in the image above that depicts the new service area in lighter blue. It’s an expansion of about ten square miles.
“Starting today, we’re bringing Waymo One to the San Francisco Peninsula for the first time, adding Daly City, Broadmoor, and Colma to our existing, round-the-clock public ride-hailing service,” Waymo said in a company blog post. “Now, our SF operations cover 55 square miles of the Bay Area – from Fisherman’s Wharf to Serramonte Center – and connect to the Daly City and Colma Bart Stations, so even more people can ride.”
These rides require use of the Waymo One app.
But not everyone on the Peninsula is thrilled about these new robot cars, which are regulated entirely by state and federal agencies, with no local government controls.
“Why would any city or county allow robotaxis to operate unfettered when they are proven to be disruptive to first responders and even deadly?” San Mateo County Board of Supervisors vice president Dave Canepa told the Bay Area News Group earlier this year. “What is needed is local control and not the blanket approval the DMV and CPUC has taken.”
Regardless, Waymo adds that on Wednesday, they’ll also be expanding their Los Angeles-area service to cover Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, and Playa Vista, plus additional areas in Hollywood, Chinatown, and Westwood.
Related: Waymo Gets State Approval for Los Angeles and SF Peninsula Expansion — and Freeway Driving [SFist]
Image via Waymo