Waymo has announced that it’s received permission from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to expand its robotaxi service across more counties in California. The company says the decision will allow it to offer rides in Sacramento and San Diego for the first time, and expand service in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
As spotted by Electrek, the CPUC’s approval appears to be in response to a letter Waymo filed in January asking for approval on a safety plan so it can offer rides in the expanded service area it announced in November 2025. Waymo received feedback and even at one point had its request suspended, according to the CPUC’s page, but the company’s announcement suggests those issues have since been resolved and just haven’t been publicly recorded yet.
Big news for the Golden State — we have received the CPUC’s approval to expand our autonomous ride-hailing service across the SF Bay Area and LA, and bring our service to Sacramento and San Diego.
Expansion will be gradual and guided by our safety framework. We look forward to…
— Waymo (@Waymo) August 14, 2026
Engadget has contacted the CPUC to confirm the details of its Waymo decision. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
The approval should allow Waymo to offer rides in 18 counties across northern and southern California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura. The company likely won’t have robotaxis in all of them immediately, though. Waymo’s announcement specifically notes that “expansion will be gradual and guided by [its] safety framework.”
Waymo announced its intention to expand into San Diego in November 2025 and Sacramento in February 2026. In July, the company shared that it would soon test fully autonomous rides without a safety driver in San Diego, Denver, Tampa and Las Vegas. Based on the original letter Waymo filed, CPUC’s permission should allow the company to offer rides in California in its existing Jaguar I-Pace vehicles and its new Ojai robotaxis, custom minivans built by Chinese car maker Zeekr.