Alphabet's Waymo robotaxi unit doubles its paid rides in three months

Alphabet's Waymo said on Tue it had doubled its paid rides to 100,000 per week in just over three months as the autonomous ride-hailing firm expanded its areas of service and allowed more people to ride its robotaxis.

Waymo's expansion comes just a month after Alphabet said it was planning a multi-year USD5 billion investment in the company even as autonomous vehicle technology continues to face widespread skepticism, tight regulatory scrutiny and federal investigations.

Waymo, which has about 700 vehicles in its fleet, is the only U.S. firm operating uncrewed robotaxis that collect fares. The company opened its service to everyone in San Francisco in Jun without joining a waitlist while expanding its operations in metro Phoenix. This month, Waymo extended services to the San Francisco Peninsula and to certain parts of Los Angeles.

"People still think of autonomous vehicles as the faraway future, but for more and more people they're now an everyday reality," Chief Product Officer Saswat Panigrahi said in a statement, adding that Waymo's expanded "deliberately" and by "optimizing costs".

That is critical as competition for Waymo is expected to intensify. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is expected to unveil the electric vehicle market leader's delayed plans for its robotaxi product in Oct.

Others in the race include General Motors' Cruise, which is finding its way back to U.S. roads with safety drivers after a major accident last year; Amazon's Zoox, which is expanding testing for its vehicles built without steering wheels and pedals; and China-based WeRide, which is seeking a USD5 billion valuation from its New York IPO and got approval from California to conduct tests with passengers.