Waymo receives permission to offer rides in Sacramento and San Diego
The company will also be able to expand its fleet across more of the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
that it’s received permission from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to expand its robotaxi service across more counties in California. The company says the decision will allow it to offer rides in Sacramento and San Diego for the first time, and expand service in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
in January asking for approval on a safety plan so it can offer rides
it announced in November 2025. Waymo received feedback and even at one point had its request suspended,
, but the company’s announcement suggests those issues have since been resolved and just haven’t been publicly recorded yet.
Big news for the Golden State — we have received the CPUC’s approval to expand our autonomous ride-hailing service across the SF Bay Area and LA, and bring our service to Sacramento and San Diego.
Expansion will be gradual and guided by our safety framework. We look forward to…
Engadget has contacted the CPUC to confirm the details of its Waymo decision. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
The approval should allow Waymo to offer rides in 18 counties across northern and southern California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura. The company likely won’t have robotaxis in all of them immediately, though. Waymo’s announcement specifically notes that “expansion will be gradual and guided by [its] safety framework.”
in February 2026. In July, the company shared that it would soon test
without a safety driver in San Diego, Denver, Tampa and Las Vegas. Based on the original letter Waymo filed, CPUC’s permission should allow the company to offer rides in California in its existing Jaguar I-Pace vehicles and its
, custom minivans built by Chinese car maker Zeekr.