Waymo's Robotaxi Service In L.A. Won't Service One Major Destination

While anyone in Los Angeles can book now a trip with a driverless Waymo taxis, there are limitations including one destination people often seek rides to reach.

The service doesn't provide a ride to airports or trips that require traveling on the highway.

Passengers can take a ride across a 79-square-mile area of Los Angeles County that doesn't include Los Angeles International Airport but does feature neighborhoods like Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Mar Vista, and Chinatown, according to the Waymo website.

Initially, to get a ride with Waymo, customers had to sign their name on a waiting list that reached more than 300,000 people.

After driving over 20 million fully autonomous miles with no serious accidents, the robotaxis are available for anyone via a click on the app, according to the Associated Press.

The company first launched its driverless vehicles in Phoenix, Arizona in 2020 and has steadily expanded. Waymo says passengers make more than 150,000 weekly trips in its robotaxis.

Alphabet has pumped $5.6 billion into the company and other investors include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and financial management firm T. Rowe Price.

While Waymo leads the robotaxi market through its autonomous technology, competitors like Amazon's Zoox, Tesla's Cybercab, and Cruise by General Motors, are planning launches in 2025.

At last year's CES technology show in Las Vegas, driverless cars showed their promise and limitations.

Forecasters expect driverless technology to impact at least five industries including auto manufacturers, auto insurance, and gas stations.

Waymo's track record and partnership with Uber to bring robotaxis to pedestrians in Texas, Austin and Atlanta next year, position it as a dominant force in the self-driving vehicle market.

In 2017, the company partnered with Lyft in a similar deal and later sued Uber in a lawsuit claiming that Uber benefited from stolen self-driving car technology from Alphabet.