Waymo Scales Toward 1 Million Weekly Rides After California Approval For Expansion

• The company said the rollout “will be gradual and guided by our safety framework,” with ongoing updates to local officials and residents.
• Nationally, the company continues to scale toward higher weekly trip volumes, from the current 500,000 paid rides per week to 1 million.
• Last month, Alphabet CEO dismissed questions about the company spinning off Waymo. 

Waymo, owned by Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), announced on Friday that the California Public Utilities Commission has approved the expansion of its fully autonomous ride-hailing service across the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, as well as launches in Sacramento and San Diego. 

The company said the rollout “will be gradual and guided by our safety framework,” with ongoing updates to local officials and residents. The move strengthens Waymo’s California footprint amid competition from other autonomous operators such as Tesla and Zoox. 

Waymo’s Current And Future Operations

Waymo has delivered more than 20 million trips thus far. It currently offers public service in the San Francisco Bay Area (primarily the Peninsula through San Jose), as well as parts of Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, and Nashville.

Public access in San Diego and Sacramento is expected to follow the gradual pattern used elsewhere, building on existing testing and employee rides. Nationally, the company continues to scale toward higher weekly trip volumes, from the current 500,000 paid rides per week to a million, and has outlined further U.S. markets and international entry in London. 

Alphabet Considering Waymo Spinoff?

During Alphabet’s Q2 2026 earnings call last month, CEO Sundar Pichai dismissed questions about spinning off Waymo, saying the unit is best positioned within Alphabet’s Other Bets structure with strong internal support. He stressed the value of long-term investment capacity and added that the company is “really focused on scaling the business right now and executing to that extraordinary potential.”

Uber-Waymo Relations

Waymo runs its robotaxis both on its own and through the Uber (UBER) app. After Waymo vehicles disappeared from Uber in Phoenix, reports of a deteriorating relationship surfaced. 

However, on Uber’s Q2 2026 earnings call earlier this month, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi dismissed the concerns, calling Waymo “a very, very important partner” and saying the Austin and Atlanta operations “continue to be very strong.” He expects the partnership to keep running next year and described Waymo’s product as “terrific.”

At the same time, he emphasized Uber’s push to diversify, noting it does not want to rely on any single partner and is already expanding with other autonomous-vehicle providers.

How Did GOOGL Retail Traders React? 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around GOOGL stock remained ‘bearish’ over the past 24 hours, while message volume was ‘low.’ 

GOOGL stock has risen 10% year-to-date. 

Also See: Intel Banks $150M Paper Gain As Joby And Mobileye Rally In Q2

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