By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com -- Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) self-driving car unit, Waymo, said Wednesday that it has started fully autonomous rides for its employees in San Francisco.
The move intensifies the race with Cruise, a General-Motors-backed rival.
The company said its San Francisco employees now join the "thousands of Waymo One riders we've been serving in Arizona, making autonomous driving technology part of their daily lives."
“We’re particularly excited about this next phase of our journey as we officially bring our rider-only technology to San Francisco—the city many of us at Waymo call home,” said Waymo's Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana.
The company said in its statement that it will also soon be expanding to Downtown Phoenix, starting with Waymo employees hailing trips with autonomous specialists behind the wheel. The aim is for the company to open it up to members of the public via its Trusted Tester program soon after.
The company has offered the public autonomous journeys in the Phoenix metropolitan area since 2020.