Waymo Pushes Into LA's South Bay as Its Robotaxi Map Widens Across 15 US Cities

Waymo extended its Los Angeles robotaxi service south along the coast on November 3, adding Torrance, El Segundo, and Manhattan Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Los Angeles service area now covers about 210 square miles, while independent tracker Robotaxi Tracker, which pulls maps from Waymo's app, put the new total at 213 square miles — an 88-square-mile increase, up 70.7 percent. The expansion also takes in destinations including Universal Studios and The Beverly Hills Hotel.

The Los Angeles move is part of a wider push Waymo announced on October 27: scaling in five cities and adding nearly 250 square miles of territory across Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Waymo's website now lists 15 areas where riders can ride, including Atlanta and Austin through Uber, plus Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Tampa.

The map still has gaps that matter. It leaves a gap around Los Angeles International Airport, which Waymo still cannot serve, and Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Huntington Park, South Gate, Bell, and Maywood remain outside the passenger service area, with no launch date announced for those communities. Waymo runs between 3,500 and 4,000 driverless vehicles across its US markets and completes more than 500,000 paid trips a week, it said in September, with a year-end target of one million weekly trips — backed by a $16 billion funding round at a $126 billion valuation and a $5 billion term loan closed on October 8.