You might soon be able to take a Waymo all the way from SF to San Jose, as the self-driving robotaxis are apparently already halfway through their bureaucratic quest to win approval to operate in San Jose, plus much of Santa Clara County.
Hey, have you seen those new Waymo vans driving around San Francisco? One of them is seen above, they’re called “generation 6,” and they’re being deployed more and more around SF. This may be part of the leadup to Waymos being allowed on car-free Market Street, a high-profile local win for the self-driving car company.
But Waymo is apparently eyeballing what would likely be a far more lucrative win. The Chronicle reports that Waymo is seeking approval to operate in San Jose and much of Santa Clara County. They’ve already gotten approval to do so from the California DMV, and are currently working on getting the necessary approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
SFist dug up Waymo’s CPUC paperwork to see what they are proposing here. The area in orange (and not grayish-orange) is where the company is now looking to expand their operations. It covers all of San Jose proper, plus much of the northern half of Santa Clara County, in cities like Cupertino, Los Gatos, and Milpitas. Waymo already operates in Santa Clara County’s Mountain View and Palo Alto, though on an invite-only basis that is not available to the public at large…