[AutonomousVehicles] Waymo Expanding into 18 Additional California Counties

[pmdonahue2 at gmail.com]

Good evening everyone,

 

                They keep telling us that they’re supposed to resume service in San Antonio after it was paused last April. We’re glad Waymo is expanding into other cities and counties, but they would be advised to do more to restart their service in cities they report to serve such as San Antonio Texas. The good news is that Tesla is on its way to the Alamo City. Zoox and Uber’s autonomous rideshare service won’t be too far behind. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that one or more autonomous rideshare services will be up and running or restored to normal operation by the end of this year. Having Tesla and Waymo fully up and running by Christmas would be awesome! We hoped to have taken a Waymo by now but their pause put the breaks on that. We have heard rumors that they will resume service with expansions hopefully to Stone Oak where we live and to other parts of town not yet served by them such as the Medina Base. Perhaps San Antonio will be the first Texas City where Waymo and Tesla will operate on freeways.

 

Peter Donahue

 

 

From: AutonomousVehicles <autonomousvehicles-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Chela Robles via AutonomousVehicles
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2026 4:21 PM
Tos: autonomous Vehicles Discussion <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Chela Robles <cdrobles693 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [AutonomousVehicles] Waymo Expanding into 18 Additional California Counties

 

That’s exciting. I actually live in the Contra Costa County.

Sincerely,

Chela Robles — Certified Literary Braille Transcriber

Sent from my iPhone


On Aug 15, 2026, at 12:26 PM, Cornelius Butler via AutonomousVehicles <autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org <mailto:autonomousvehicles at nfbnet.org> > wrote:



On August 14, 2026, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved Waymo’s Advice Letter No. 4, authorizing commercial, fare-charging driverless operations across 18 counties in Northern and Southern California.

Key Details of the 18-County Expansion

Northern California — 12 Counties:
Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo.

Southern California — 6 Counties:
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura.

New Commercial Markets:
The approval authorizes commercial passenger service in Sacramento and San Diego, along with major operational expansions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles.

Fleet Scope:
The authorization covers both Waymo’s retrofitted Jaguar I-PACE vehicles and its custom Ojai robotaxis, based on the Zeekr platform and equipped with Waymo’s 6th-generation Driver.

Operating Profile:
Waymo is authorized to operate on local streets, highways, freeways, and rail crossings during the day and at night, including in rain and fog.

Official Links

CPUC Regulatory Approval — Advice Letter No. 4:
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cpuc-website/divisions/consumer-protection-and-enforcement-division/documents/tlab/av-programs/tcp0038152a-waymo-al-0004.pdf

Waymo Official Newsroom:
https://waymo.com/blog/

Waymo Service Expansion Updates:
https://waymo.com/blog/shorts/growing-to-1400-sqm/

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