Waymo opens driverless rides to all San Antonio passengers

Waymo opened its app-based robotaxi service to all riders in San Antonio on Oct. 14, allowing residents and visitors to hail fully autonomous vehicles without joining a waitlist.

The public service covers an area from King William to Wurzbach Parkway, including downtown, the River Walk, the Alamo, the Henry B. González Convention Center, Hemisfair, North Star Mall and San Antonio International Airport. Riders can request trips through the Waymo app by entering a destination and selecting pickup and drop-off points within the service area.

The opening completes a phased rollout that began in February with invitation-only access. Waymo had previously brought tens of thousands of people into the San Antonio service, and began airport pickups and drop-offs on March 31 at the designated rideshare area.

The service uses Waymo’s newer Ojai vehicle, equipped with the company’s sixth-generation self-driving technology. Waymo has described the vehicle as designed to handle weather conditions; Ojai was first offered to select customers in May and was intended to be a less costly vehicle to manufacture than the company’s earlier fleet.

The wider opening followed a temporary halt to San Antonio rides earlier this year, when Waymo undertook software and operational changes centred on rider safety. The company cited flooding-related performance concerns and added floodwater detection before resuming autonomous rides in September.

The flooding issue had drawn regulatory attention after an unoccupied Waymo vehicle entered an untraversable flooded lane in San Antonio on April 20. No one was injured, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the automated-driving software could allow robotaxis onto flooded roads. Waymo filed a voluntary recall covering up to 3,791 vehicles on April 30 and said it had tightened extreme-weather operations, updated maps and limited access to places where flash flooding could occur.

Waymo also opened app access to autonomous rides in San Diego and Tampa on Oct. 14. The company said it had welcomed hundreds of thousands of riders across the three cities since beginning service there earlier this year.