A growing number of taxi passengers are selecting a driverless option, according to Waymo.
The Alphabet-backed company announced on X this week that it's currently serving more than 50,000 paid, driver-free trips every week in the three major cities where it operates: Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
The Waymo One service operates 24/7 in parts of all three cities. The company also offers limited rides to select members of the community in Austin, Texas, as well as Los Angeles.
In Phoenix, the company recently started offering Uber Eats deliveries using the cars. For now, they’re working with select restaurants in Chandler, Tempe, and Mesa, including Princess Pita, Filiberto's, and Bosa Donuts. Uber Eats customers will receive a notification that a Waymo car has been selected to deliver their order and they can request to receive a delivery from a human driver instead.
While Waymo vehicles have been popular, that popularity hasn’t come without a bit of pushback from the communities in which they’re operating. The vehicles have been involved in several incidents with pedestrians, other vehicles, and pets. In February, residents of San Francisco also set one of the vehicles on fire in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Rival Cruise was forced to pull its robotaxis off the road after its own incident with a pedestrian. The company's vehicles recently returned to the roads in Phoenix but only in a testing phase with a human behind the wheel. Both companies will face more competition come August, when Elon Musk plans to unveil his long-awaited Tesla robotaxi, which he has dubbed the Cybercab.