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Waymo, the self-driving technology company under Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), has seen a significant surge in its robotaxi rides, reaching a milestone of 100,000 paid rides per week.
What Happened: Waymo’s co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana revealed on Tuesday that the company is now providing over 100,000 paid robotaxi rides every week in its primary commercial markets, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. This figure is double the previously disclosed number.
“We're building a safer future one ride at a time, and I'm thrilled to share that we’ve just surpassed 100k paid trips per week!” Mawakana wrote on X.
Waymo has attained this milestone with a fleet of Jaguar I-Pace.
Waymo’s expansion in California, where it obtained the final permits to operate a robotaxi service commercially in August last year, has been particularly notable. The company has since transitioned to a 24/7 service in San Francisco and has been expanding into new areas in Los Angeles.
In July, Alphabet announced a new multiyear commitment to invest $5 billion in Waymo.
See Also: What’s Going On With Chinese EV Stocks, Nio, XPeng And Li Auto On Monday?
Why It Matters: The surge in Waymo’s robotaxi rides comes amid a forecast by Ark Invest analyst Tasha Keeney that Tesla Inc. could have an edge over Waymo in scaling its robotaxi network due to its car manufacturing capabilities. This prediction was made in light of Waymo’s ongoing challenges with longer wait times and technical issues due to its smaller fleet.
Waymo has been working to address these challenges, recently introducing its sixth-generation hardware with improved sensors for better performance, especially in winter conditions.
However, the company is still facing operational issues, as seen in a recent report of its vehicles causing disturbance by honking in a San Francisco parking lot.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has been openly critical of Waymo’s autonomous driving technology, highlighting instances such as Waymo’s vehicles being flagged down by the police for driving into opposing lanes of traffic.
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Photo via Shutterstock
This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote
