Waymo adds nearly 250 square miles of robotaxi service across five US cities

Waymo says it is adding nearly 250 square miles of service territory across Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area over the next week, in cities where it already runs with nobody in the driver's seat.

San Diego, which Waymo opened to all riders only on Oct 14, now reaches north to La Jolla, taking in University City and Clairemont. Los Angeles extends down the coast through Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach to Torrance. Orlando's east-side coverage nearly doubles, with more service downtown. Nashville riders can travel further south, as far as the zoo. The Bay Area map runs from San Francisco down the Peninsula to San Jose and Campbell.

Waymo gave no square-mile breakdown by city and did not say how many vehicles it is adding, so for now the expansion is measured in map area, not cars. Electrek puts the total at about the size of Tesla's entire Houston robotaxi geofence, which Robotaxi Tracker measures at roughly 254 square miles with 34 vehicles. According to Electrek, Waymo says it operates in 15 US metros with more than 500,000 paid rides a week.

The updated maps are already in the Waymo app, and the rollout runs over the next week, including a new BART connection at Berryessa Station in San Jose.