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Waymo’s robotaxi service is one step closer to offering Sacramento residents autonomous rides, which a city councilmember said could happen as early as this month.
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The California Public Utilities Commission approved Waymo’s application to operate its ride-hailing service in Sacramento and San Diego, as well as to expand in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, company spokesperson Sandy Karp said in an email Friday.
The company, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc., planned to continue testing the vehicles in Sacramento to make sure they met safety and maintenance requirements, Karp said. Both the white Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, Waymo’s most common vehicle, and the new light blue Ojai minivans had been spotted around Sacramento, with the minivans becoming more common in the past few weeks.
Service could begin later this summer in San Diego.
Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum, whose district includes downtown and East Sacramento, said in late July that the robotaxis could pick up Sacramento riders as early as August. Waymo spokespeople, however, continued to say the launch timeline was unclear.
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The vehicles in the captial region were operating autonomously but had a human monitor in the driver’s seat. The next phase was expected to allow local Waymo employees to use the service. Access would then be expanded to others in Sacramento and Yolo counties.
The areas first served by Waymo would be determined using a demand-based model, meaning midtown and downtown Sacramento would likely be the first to see rides. The service would then spread to surrounding neighborhoods such as South Natomas and Land Park.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty described the introduction of Waymo to the city as a safety benefit. Although Waymo vehicles had been involved in crashes, the company touted research on its safety record, including peer-reviewed studies that found its autonomous vehicles were involved in fewer injury crashes than human drivers during comparable driving conditions.
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