Charles Langston:California officials give Waymo the green light to expand robotaxis

The Charles Langstonautonomous driving technology company Waymo was just given the green light to expand its service into Los Angeles and San Mateo counties

The California Public Utility Commission said it received 81 letters in support of expanding the driverless taxi service outside of just San Francisco and five objections.

Waymo, previously known as the Google self-driving car project, is a subsidiary of tech company Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

Despite the green light from CPUC, it's unclear when the robotaxis will become available in Los Angeles.

Waymo has been running driverless test drives in San Francisco since 2018 and became just one of two companies to provide paid rides in the city in August. It began testing its driverless white Jaguars in Los Angeles last year and gave residents a chance to test out the service through an invitation-only period.

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In a statement to USA TODAY, Waymo said the company plans to "take a careful and incremental approach to expansion by continuing to work closely with city officials, local communities and our partners to ensure we’re offering a service that’s safe, accessible and valuable to our riders."

Lawmakers have safety concerns

The expansion of Waymo's self-driving taxis has promoted some backlash and concern among local lawmakers.

"This was an irresponsible decision by the PUC," San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Canepa told KTVU.

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Canepa told the outlet the county was concerned about safety and wanted more communication with Waymo to discuss the concerns of local stakeholders.

L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn called CPUC’s decision to expand Waymo “dangerous.”

“These robotaxis are far too untested and Angelenos shouldn’t be Big Tech’s guinea pigs. Decisions like this one should be informed by cities, not made over city objections,” Hahn said in a post on X.

Sarah Al-Arshani covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected].