It won’t be much longer before San Diegans see Waymo’s self-driving cars shuttling riders around the county.
The San Francisco-based company announced Wednesday that its autonomous vehicles are ready to ditch their human babysitters and start driving on their own. An exact date was not given for when the vehicles, called the Ojai, will be available to the public, but rideshares are available now to Waymo employees in San Diego, Waymo said in a news release.
Waymo cars have been spotted in San Diego before, but with specialists inside as the company worked to enhance the vehicles’ abilities for local roads. They’ve been testing rides between Pacific Beach, Point Lima, Normal Heights and Southcrest, the company said.
Once available for all, riders in San Diego — along with those in Las Vegas, Denver, Tampa and 11 other cities — can download the Waymo app to call an autonomous vehicle 24/7.
“If you’re in one of these four new cities, download the app to be notified when it’s time to ride,” the company said in a news release.
The addition of self-driving vehicles is not welcome news for all. Rideshare drivers with the California Gig Workers Union and California state Senator Dave Cortese are behind a state Senate bill, which is still in committee, to regulate robotaxis. They say the bill is not about competition but about safety and that more regulation is needed before pushing forward.
It has been five years since Waymo’s driverless ride-hailing service made its debut in Phoenix with a technology that began as a secret project within Google in 2009. Waymo spun out from Google in 2016, but the two companies remain tethered under the same corporate parent, Alphabet Inc.
Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are not the first to travel San Diego’s roads. Cruise, a self-driving car company based out of San Francisco, was spotted testing its vehicles in the Gaslamp Quarter in August 2023.
People in San Diego have mixed feelings about it.
“They’re scary for us. We have them in Pheonix and they’re all over the place,” Rick Chandler told NBC San Diego on Wednesday.
“It’s got all the things spinning around on the top and on the sides and stuff like that, so it looks like something from out of space or something. So, once you get used to it, it’s going to be pretty revolutionary I would say,” Paul Robinson said.
One woman said she would prefer using the self-driving service over getting in a car with a stranger, but others have expressed opposition.
Councilmember Sean-Elo Rivera previously expressed his concern about the autonomous vehicles possibly pricing out rideshare drivers out of a job.
Others have also asked for stronger regulations on the driverless self-driving car.
“I think it’s just from a liability side, what’s the risk? I think that’s really what it’s going to come down to and then how is it going to affect the flow of traffic?” David Cardon said.