Waymo expands driverless service across Los Angeles

Autonomous ride-hailing company Waymo is expanding its operations across Los Angeles starting Wednesday, bringing its driverless vehicles to new neighborhoods and broadening its footprint in Southern California.

The expanded service area will now include Playa del Rey, Ladera Heights, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and the full stretch of Sunset Boulevard, the company announced this week.

Additionally, riders will be able to travel directly between Mid-City and Inglewood, as well as Westchester, via La Cienega and La Brea. The latest rollout expands Waymo’s coverage area to over 120 square miles within Los Angeles County.

“We’re very proud of this progress — we’re the first [autonomous vehicle] service operating at real scale and we continue to see growing demand and trust in our services,” Waymo said in a statement.

This marks the second major service expansion for the company in the Los Angeles area this year. 

The announcement comes just one week after Waymo suspended operations in downtown Los Angeles following an incident in which protesters vandalized and set fire to several Waymo vehicles during protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement raids.

Waymo also revealed it is broadening its coverage in the San Francisco Bay Area, extending into Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, and Burlingame. This also includes Silicon Valley, with Palo Alto and Menlo Park now available for riders.

In addition to California, Waymo currently operates in Phoenix, Arizona and Austin, Texas.

The company is operated by Alphabet, Google’s parent company.