The newest places you can catch Waymo robo-rides are the Silicon Valley cities of Los Altos, Palo Alto, and Mountain View, which makes sense, as Waymo was born in Mountain View.  

It is a very sensible move, though one the company did not pursue very aggressively, that Waymo has launched robotaxi service in Silicon Valley, as today’s Chronicle reports. The areas the company is newly operating in are the cities of Los Altos, Palo Alto, and Mountain View, as well as some part of Sunnyvale. And this is sensible, not just because these are pretty wealthy and probably lucrative markets, but also because Waymo was born in Mountain View in 2009 back when it was called the Google Self-Driving Car Project.


The video above shows which areas are now available for hailing a Waymo. Though not everyone can hail a Waymo there. According to the Chronicle, the rides will only be available to “a pool of recent Waymo One app users whose ZIP codes fall within the area.” So you can only get those rides if you’ve already used a Waymo in SF (or Austin, LA, or Phoenix).

“Opening our fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Silicon Valley marks a special milestone in our Bay Area journey,” Waymo chief product officer Saswat Panigrahi said in a statement to the Chronicle.

Image: Waymo

Waymo opened its service to anyone in San Francisco (anyone with the Waymo One app, that is) this past June. They expanded available service to some parts of Daly City, Colma, and Broadmoor last summer, creating the SF-area service zone seen above.

But a big prize the company is still seeking is being able to drive people to and from SFO. That may be a ways off, because they don’t have the permits to do this yet, nor to operate on freeways, nor do they even have the permits to map out US 101 or I-280. Though given the problems that at least confused Waymo had taking a passenger to the Phoenix airport, I’m not personally super eager to take a Waymo to SFO anytime soon.  

Related: Waymo Expands Robotaxi Service Onto the Peninsula, But Still Can’t Drive to SFO or on 101 [SFist]

Image via Waymo