Waymo gets regulatory approval to expand across the Bay Area and Southern California

Waymo continues to expand its reach with its robotaxi business send Friday that he was now “officially authorized to drive fully independently across more of the Golden State.”

Waymo already operates in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles (and outside of California as well, in Atlanta, Austin, and Phoenix). But the maps published The California Department of Motor Vehicles showed that the company can now test and deploy its self-driving vehicles across a much larger area in both the Bay Area and Southern California.

In the Bay Area, Waymo’s approved areas of operations now include most of the East Bay and North Bay (including Napa/Wine Country), as well as Sacramento. In Southern California, the company’s approved area now extends from Santa Clarita (north of Los Angeles) to San Diego.

The company will need additional regulatory approval before it can carry paying passengers in some of these areas. According to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Although Waymo’s post doesn’t offer many details about when it plans to actually start offering rides in all of these new areas, the company did write: “Next stop: welcoming passengers to San Diego in mid-2026!”

The company had previously announced its intention to launch in San Diego next year, along with Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

There’s been a lot of Waymo expansion news in the past few weeks, with the company announcing it will be one Enter Minneapolis, New Orleans and Tampa; He is Remove safety drivers Before its commercial launch in Miami; And I will Start offering trips that use highways In Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix.

We discussed the growth of Waymo and other robotaxi companies in the latest episode of Stock podcast. My co-host Sean O’Kane noted that as Waymo starts offering more unrestricted access across the Bay Area, people could be spending a lot more time in their robotaxis — so we might see them using the service in a new, weird, or even dangerous Knock.