The California Public Utilities Commission has approved Waymo’s request to expand robotaxi service into 18 additional counties, a decision that more than triples the driverless car company’s operating footprint across the state. The approval, which took effect August 14, 2026, according to the CPUC’s own advice letter filings, clears Waymo to run fully autonomous rides with no human safety driver on freeways, city streets, rural roads and even rail crossings throughout the newly added territory.
Where the Service Is Headed
The expansion covers 12 counties in Northern California, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo, plus six counties in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura, according to Electrek. San Diego and Sacramento mark Waymo’s first entries into those markets, extending a service area that previously covered roughly 1,400 square miles across 11 cities.
Waymo currently runs a fleet of about 3,000 vehicles, most of them Jaguar I-Pace SUVs retrofitted with the company’s sixth-generation Driver hardware. The CPUC’s approval also covers Waymo’s newer Ojai robotaxi, built on a Zeekr minivan platform, which the company has positioned as a lower-cost alternative to the I-Pace as it scales up fleet size to meet demand across the larger territory.
The commission’s sign-off permits operation at all posted speed limits, day or night, in rain, fog and hail. The only weather carve-out excludes widespread snow or ice, conditions rarely seen across the approved counties outside the Sierra foothills.
A Seven-Month Review
Regulators had been reviewing Waymo’s application, filed as Advice Letter 4-A, since May, according to the CPUC. ABC7 San Francisco reports the newly approved area stretches from Brentwood in the East Bay to Sea Ranch in Sonoma County, taking in Napa Valley wine country along the way.
In a statement, Waymo said the rollout will be “gradual and guided by our safety framework,” adding that the company plans to keep local officials and residents informed as service reaches new communities. The company has not published a county-by-county launch schedule, though Fox Business reports San Diego service is targeted for later this summer.
The Numbers Behind the Push
Waymo has completed more than 20 million paid trips to date and has set an internal target of 1 million weekly rides by the end of 2026. The company cites internal data showing 94 percent fewer crashes involving serious injury compared with human drivers over the same mileage, a figure it has used to argue for continued regulatory expansion even as critics, including UC Berkeley engineering professor Scott Moura, have raised questions about how the autonomous system will handle unfamiliar highway interchanges, bridges and rural roads with spotty connectivity once it moves beyond its established core markets.
The 18-county approval does not affect Waymo’s competitors. Tesla still operates its Bay Area ride-hailing pilot with a human safety driver behind the wheel, a regulatory distinction that keeps it classified more like a limousine service than a driverless deployment.