Driverless Cars Appearing Next on California Freeways

You've probably noticed the white SUVs with spinning radar arrays on their roofs and with no one behind the wheel. The driverless Waymo vehicles are especially common North of Wilshire Blvd and South of Montana Avenue. Waymo Inc. has been testing the Vehicles all year in Santa Monica.

Waymo announced it will expand its fleet to Bay Area freeways this week, starting with employees. 

This will get passengers to where they need to go faster than using city streets, the Company said. For example, it could take half the time for a trip from the Lake Merced neighborhood to Oracle Park.  Waymo expanded its ride hailing service to Daly City, Colma and Broadmoor last week.

This comes 2 weeks after the City of San Francisco announced a crack down on driverless cars.  Mayor London Breed said she will "hold them accountable" and plans to talk with Waymo next month about safety concerns. 

Breed spoke after reports of crossing guards at various schools claiming they were nearly hit over the past year.  Waymo owns most of the self-driving cars in the city and isn't required to have a safety operator in the front seat.