Cruise and Waymo see a surge in robotaxi app downloads

Shopper curiosity in Cruise and Waymo’s competing robotaxi companies surged following a vote final week by the California Public Utilities Fee that allowed the 2 corporations to broaden and cost for his or her driverless automotive operations in San Francisco.

Estimates from app intelligence supplier knowledge.ai confirmed 15,400 downloads of the Waymo One app within the 5 days following the August 10 vote — up 67% from the 9,200 downloads within the week prior. The Cruise app was downloaded by first-time customers 8,300 instances — a 77% improve — over the identical five-day time-frame.

Total, the Cruise app has been downloaded a complete of 146,000 instances, in response to knowledge.ai. Waymo One has been downloaded about 513,000 instances, in response to knowledge.ai estimates. The Waymo One app possible has a bigger whole variety of downloads as a result of the ride-hailing service has been operational within the higher Phoenix space for years now. Cruise has began to broaden to different cities, together with Phoenix, however its best focus of self-driving vehicles and its main business operations are in San Francisco.

Picture Credit: Knowledge.ai

The leap in curiosity comes as Cruise and Waymo start charging for driverless rides in San Francisco. The businesses have had restricted paid operations within the metropolis for months now. The CPUC vote gave each corporations the ultimate allow wanted to supply business robotaxi companies throughout San Francisco 24 hours a day, seven days every week and with no restrict on the variety of robotaxis they will placed on the roads.

Cruise despatched an e mail August 14, simply days after the vote, informing customers that it’s going to start charging for all driverless rides. The corporate famous that the fares are shared with the person upfront and promised there wouldn’t be surge pricing, a tactic utilized by the human pushed ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft.

“Paying to experience will assist us develop, and expanded hours and upgrades to our service are coming quickly,” the e-mail learn.

Waymo issued the same message inside its app and through e mail, albeit with a number of variations. The corporate stated it intends to begin charging for Waymo One rides in San Francisco on August 21. Like Cruise, customers of Waymo One may also see fares upfront.

Waymo famous that the worth relies on essentially the most direct route and that fare will keep the identical even when the automotive re-routes in an surprising method. Waymo stated costs could also be larger throughout busier instances similar to nights and weekends. The corporate added that its wheelchair accessible automobile (WAV) service within the metropolis will stay free for now.

As shopper curiosity in Cruise and Waymo has grown, so has the opposition. Public feedback previous to the CPUC vote confirmed a public divided on having robotaxis milling round public roads. Within the days because the vote, a number of incidents involving Cruise self-driving autos — together with one occasion wherein 10 autos stalled and blocked site visitors — has raised the ire of metropolis officers as effectively.

San Francisco Metropolis Lawyer David Chiu filed motions Wednesday with the CPUC to pause Cruise and Waymo’s plans to cost for robotaxi rides within the metropolis in any respect hours.