Waymo just opened robotaxi rides to everyone in Los Angeles

Hailing a driverless cab in Los Angeles just stopped being an exclusive club.

On Tuesday, Waymo officially dumped its waitlist in LA. Anyone with the Waymo One app can now hop into a fully autonomous Jaguar I-Pace and take a ride.

Open roads in LA

Waymo rolled out commercial operations in Los Angeles earlier this year, quickly racking up a waitlist of nearly 300,000 eager locals.

Now, the service is open to the public 24/7 across an 80-square-mile zone in LA County. That footprint covers hot spots like Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Downtown LA, with plans to expand further.

This follows a similar playbook in San Francisco, where Waymo scrapped its waitlist back in June. Down in Phoenix, riders can already hail a Waymo directly via Uber or the Waymo app, and the company is testing autonomous runs on Phoenix freeways. Rides are also rolling out in Austin, with plans to launch via Uber in both Austin and Atlanta in 2025.

To power the next chapter, Waymo teamed up with Hyundai in October to integrate its autonomous driver into the electric Ioniq 5 SUV, aiming to start real-world testing by late 2025.

Leaving rivals in the rearview

While Waymo is racking up real commercial miles, rivals are still sorting out basics.

Amazon's Zoox is testing its custom, steering-wheel-free pods in San Francisco's SoMa and on the Vegas Strip, targeting a commercial debut in Las Vegas in 2025. GM-backed Cruise is still crawling back with supervised testing after its California permit was yanked last year following a severe pedestrian crash.

Still, scaling hasn't been entirely clean. Waymo had to recall and patch software after crashes involving a cyclist in San Francisco and a towed truck in Phoenix. In May, NHTSA opened probes into both Waymo and Zoox over erratic behavior, including Waymo vehicles bumping into parked cars.

Why it matters

For everyday riders in LA, robotaxis are officially mainstream. You no longer need an invite code to cruise through Beverly Hills without a driver, and fares remain competitive with Uber and Lyft.

For the broader mobility sector, Waymo's lead is turning into a moat. While Cruise recovers and Zoox prepares for commercial rollout, Waymo is operating fully open, driverless fleets across two of America's densest metro areas. That builds consumer habit and real operational muscle nobody else has.

We think the move is calculated and smart. Waymo proved the concept in Phoenix and San Francisco before opening the floodgates in car-centric Southern California. The lingering risk, however, is regulatory scrutiny. Navigating 80 square miles of chaotic LA traffic means NHTSA will be watching every close call with a magnifying glass.