If the Los Angeles rideshare industry becomes upended in the near future, Santa Monica was the testing ground that made it happen.
This month, autonomous riding service Waymo announced a major expansion across the Los Angeles area, increasing the range of self-driving cars to 79 square miles across the city. Waymo’s map extends as far east as Downtown LA, as far north as Hollywood and as far south as Playa Vista, while keeping the majority of the Westside in its coverage area.
Formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo is a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, which spent an estimated $30 billion to push the boundaries of transportation. Now at 100,000 paid trips across San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles; Santa Monica was a crucial stop in the company breaking ground in LA, being the first location in the city to have autonomous operation. Waymo LA Operations Lead Carl Winnicki stated that the city was picked due to its dense urban center and heavy bike presence, similar to the environment cars were subjected to in San Francisco.
"We do take a thoughtful and skilled approach when we think about one, entering the territory, and then two, expanding the territory," Winnicki said. "So when we initially came into the Los Angeles market, we did start in a segment of Santa Monica to one, validate our assumptions, and then slowly grow our autonomous service."
The "Waymo Driver" absorbs knowledge of a new area from detailed maps, pointing out lane markers, stop signs, curbs and crosswalks, among other hazards. The self-driver relies on these maps and real-time sensor data to stay in the right place on the road, as opposed to external data like GPS technology. The company has over 400 vehicles in its three key markets, plus early expansion into Austin, Texas, and currently has about 50 driverless cars in Los Angeles.
With a smaller fleet comes higher demand, a demand that has tripled in recent months. Waymo’s initial waitlist in Los Angeles totaled about 50,000, but what Winnicki called "a lot of excitement" has pushed that number above 150,000. Despite the rabid fanbase, Winnicki added that the waitlist for new customers (which typically lasts several weeks) will remain intact as to not "saturate the market."
"It’s deliberate, and we ensure that we provide high quality of service, and ensure that all the neighborhoods, as we scale, love to use our service … we want to ensure that we’re scaling thoughtfully, ensuring that everyone is brought along as we can continue to scale Los Angeles," Winnicki said.
The expansion also comes with questions of economics, as some online reviews state that Waymo rides exceed the cost of competitors like Uber and Lyft. Winnicki stated that the difference between themselves and other rideshare services is the absence of expected tip monies, as well as "consistent service" with each ride.
"Basically, every trip you get is going to be similar to your last trip in regards to the quality of the ride, the quality of the vehicle, and just … the overall rider experience," he added.
Currently, feedback is positive locally, but San Francisco (where the service has been running the longest) residents have pointed out where the vehicles still have blemishes, namely an issue in a Waymo parking lot where the "drivers" interact with each other. An NBC Bay Area report included footage of the vehicles honking at each other in the dead of night, due to a feature that honks the car’s horn when another car is too close. The company issues several patches for this problem, but highlights the kinks that will have to be worked out before national expansion.
Winnicki said that despite its nature as a "new service," he anecdotally feels that the cars are still "safe and reliable."
"I always try to get cool uncle points, and I will have my four-year-old niece come down to Santa Monica, and one of her favorite things to do is hop into Waymo and drive around Santa Monica … it’s a very safe product," he said.
thomas@smdp.com
