Waymo says its robots now make 50,000 paid trips each week

If you’re seeing more Waymo robots in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles lately, it’s because more and more people want to go for a ride. The Alphabet-owned company has announced on Twitter/X that it now serves more than 50,000 paid rides each week in three cities. Waymo One operates 24/7 in parts of these cities. If the company receives 50,000 trips per week, that means it receives an average of 300 bookings every hour, or five bookings every minute. Waymo also revealed that it’s all over one million rider-only trips in four cities, including Austin, where it currently offers limited rides to select members of the public.

In its announcement, Waymo credited its “safe and deliberate approach” to scaling its program for reaching the milestone. “We see people from all walks of life using our service to travel carefree, gain independence, reclaim their commute and much more. Fully autonomous travel is a reality and a preferred mobility option for people who navigate their cities every day,” he adds.

While Waymo certainly seems to be doing better than Cruise, which only recently rolled out some of its autonomous vehicles after a much-needed hiatus, it has had its share of controversy. In April, six Waymo robot taxis blocked traffic on a freeway in San Francisco, and it was just one of the instances in which the company’s vehicles caused traffic to be blocked. Earlier this year, two Waymo vehicles crashed into the same pickup truck back-to-back because their software incorrectly predicted the truck’s future movements. The company issued a software recall after the incident to fix the problem and prevent similar incidents.