Waymo Eyeing Expansion Into San Jose, and Also Much of the South Bay

You might soon be able to take a Waymo all the way from SF to San Jose, as the self-driving robotaxis are apparently already halfway through their bureaucratic quest to win approval to operate in San Jose, plus much of Santa Clara County.

Hey, have you seen those new Waymo vans driving around San Francisco? One of them is seen above, they’re called “generation 6,” and they’re being deployed more and more around SF. This may be part of the leadup to Waymos being allowed on car-free Market Street, a high-profile local win for the self-driving car company.

But Waymo is apparently eyeballing what would likely be a far more lucrative win. The Chronicle reports that Waymo is seeking approval to operate in San Jose and much of Santa Clara County. They've already gotten approval to do so from the California DMV, and are currently working on getting the necessary approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

SFist dug up Waymo’s CPUC paperwork to see what they are proposing here. The area in orange (and not grayish-orange) is where the company is now looking to expand their operations. It covers all of San Jose proper, plus much of the northern half of Santa Clara County, in cities like Cupertino, Los Gatos, and Milpitas. Waymo already operates in Santa Clara County’s Mountain View and Palo Alto, though on an invite-only basis that is not available to the public at large.

And they are kind of exaggerating the scope on that map. Waymo cannot currently operate in all of the grayish-orange areas depicted in that map, as they're still mapping routes to SFO, presumably on US-101 and I-280.

And as seen above, Waymo in SF only operates as far down south as Colma. So they’re not going all the way down the peninsula and into the South Bay on a straight US-101 shot anytime soon.

Regardless, the company has received letters of support sent to the CPUC by the expected pro-business types like the Bay Area Council and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. They also inexplicably received a letter of support from Peninsula homelessness services provider LifeMoves, who described Waymos as “a welcome resource for our community.” I guess their argument is that Waymos are safer around pedestrians, because I’m not holding my breath to see Waymo offering rides to homeless people anytime soon.

The CPUC is considering Waymo’s application, and there is no timeline given for approval.

But if this were approved, could one take a Waymo all the way from San Francisco to San Jose, or vice versa? Possibly so, just not the straight-shot down US-101. Should that whole area shown in orange on Waymo’s map get approved, one could take the Waymo from SF to Colma, hit some side streets in Pacifica and take them down to State Route 35 (aka Skyline Boulevard) and then cut towards San Jose at Saratoga.

Though if this is anything like normal Waymo rollouts, it would not be offered to the public at large at first, and would likely start as invite-only service for those who are already Waymo power users.

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

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