Waymo Gains Approval to Charge for Robotaxi Rides in San Francisco
Waymo receives a crucial California permit to charge passengers for autonomous ride-hailing trips in San Francisco, though a human safety operator remains in the vehicle.
Waymo earns a new permit from the California Public Utilities Commission that allows the company to charge riders for autonomous ride-hailing trips in San Francisco. Despite the commercial milestone, the permit requires a human safety operator to remain present inside the vehicle during all paid trips. This regulatory approval serves as one of Waymo's final steps toward fully commercializing its self-driving technology in the city.
The company already provides free rides to thousands of vetted users in its Trusted Tester program, but it now prepares to transition these passengers to paid trips within the next few weeks. These paid rides operate 24/7 anywhere within Waymo's designated San Francisco service area. Waymo relies on a step-by-step approach that mirrors its successful launch strategy in Arizona, where the company safely completes tens of thousands of fully driverless trips.
Waymo operates a fleet of around 100 autonomous Jaguar I-PACEs in San Francisco to support this expanding service. The company emphasizes that this gradual rollout prioritizes safety as it slowly shifts from human-supervised autonomous mode to a completely rider-only experience. Eventually, Waymo plans to remove the human safety operator entirely, allowing passengers to ride completely alone in the autonomous vehicles.