Waymo may soon broaden its reach into the East Bay, Wine Country, and up the coast toward Sea Ranch, under new permits the California Public Utilities Commission approved this week.
This expansion “will be gradual,” representatives of the Alphabet-backed company wrote in a statement that laid out their next steps. Later this summer Waymo will launch passenger service in San Diego while continuing to “validate” technology in Sacramento.
Still, the new map shows the scope of Waymo’s ambition. In the future, its autonomous fleet could serve weekend road-trippers, traveling from Silicon Valley to Bodega Bay or from suburbs north of the San Fernando Valley down to Long Beach. Waymo could trace the whole SMART train route on Highway 101 and the southernmost section of California’s future high-speed rail system. It could serve as the designated driver for people who want to hop from one tasting room to another in the Napa or Alexander valleys.
“Waymo was born and built in the Bay, and we are eager to bring the service millions love to even more cities across the region,” spokesperson Sandy Karp wrote in a statement. “While we don’t have any immediate expansion dates to share just yet, we look forward to sharing more about our plans with the public and local officials as we safely and gradually scale our operations.”…