Waymo will expand robotaxi operations to LA next
Google’s Waymo driverless ride-hailing service is expanding operations to Los Angeles, California.
Waymo has not yet specified a timeline for when the rides will start – just that Los Angeles will be next in line.
It’s a major announcement, given the size and scope of LA driving, which is more complex than both Phoenix and San Francisco.
Waymo operates a fleet of self-driving electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles – these currently serve the public in Phoenix, Arizona, and are being tested by employees in San Francisco, California. These vehicles have no driver, whether in the vehicle or remotely – they run purely on sensors and can be used by the public in Phoenix with no NDAs or predefined pickups through the Waymo One app. The company is currently looking for “Trusted Testers” in San Francisco: nonemployees who can help test the next phase of their rollout.
Phoenix was Waymo’s first area, which is marked by mostly wide, flat streets in a grid configuration and isn’t nearly as choked by traffic as California’s major cities. Moving to San Francisco upped complexity a lot – the city is quite difficult to drive in, but at least it’s small, which means everything can be mapped out ahead of time so the vehicles have an easier time navigating.
Waymo’s public Phoenix coverage area is about a hundred square miles. The company is also testing in downtown Phoenix, including rides to the Sky Harbor airport. In San Francisco, the coverage area is smaller, as the city itself is only 7-by-7 miles.
Interestingly, the press release quotes the population of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, which has 13 million residents and covers an area far larger than any of their previous service areas by population, area, and complexity.
The LA metro area is commonly considered to run all the way from Thousand Oaks to San Clemente and sometimes includes Riverside as well. But, Waymo also quoted Holly Mitchell, an LA supervisor for District 2, which mostly covers South Central, the West side and beach cities (here’s an LA district map) and is a couple hundred square miles. It notably excludes downtown – a more complex area, which Waymo was also later to address in both SF and Phoenix. So we’d bet that Waymo will mostly cover this area first.
Compared to SF and Phoenix streets, Los Angeles is the worst of both worlds – a huge, sprawling metropolis with lots of distance to cover and often-poor road quality, tons of traffic, and complex roads. It’s easier to drive in than San Francisco (in this writer’s opinion), but it offers more varied terrain and road conditions across a much wider area. Waymo mentions some of these difficulties in their press release:
We’ve also autonomously driven millions of miles on freeways, giving us a head start handling some of Los Angeles’s most challenging roads. Roads that include criss-crossing freeway ramps, narrow surface streets, high numbers of unprotected left turns, blinding sunsets down its east-west roads, and distracted drivers.
Currently, Waymo’s rides are still free to the public in Phoenix, unlike competitor GM Cruise which started charging for some rides in San Francisco earlier this year. Waymo also has permission to start charging for rides in San Francisco but hasn’t done so yet, as it’s not yet open to the public in that area. Waymo says that the potential commercial opportunity in the LA market is as big as a dozen smaller US cities combined, due to its population, size, and car-centric nature.
We’re sure the first rides in LA won’t be charged for as Waymo tests its program. In San Francisco, it has only allowed employee travel since it started operations in March, but that is convenient since the company is headquartered there. There may not be enough LA-based employees to allow for this restriction, so Google might start off with “Trusted Tester” and public rides sooner than they have in SF (or maybe that’s wishful thinking – I’d love to use this service).
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With new models rolling out from General Motors, Porsche, Honda, and several others, US EV sales increased by over 10% in the first three months of 2025. Nearly 300,000 EVs were sold in the first quarter of 2025. These were the top-selling models.
New EVs drive US sales growth in Q1 2025
Electric vehicle sales showed mixed results in the first quarter. Although Tesla is the center of attention as it continues to lose market share, several new EV models made an impressive debut.
With over 30,000 EVs sold in the first quarter, more than double the number sold last year, GM surpassed Ford and Hyundai Motor, placing second behind Tesla. GM’s Chevy is now the fastest-growing EV brand in the US, with the new electric Equinox, Blazer, and Silverado arriving.
GM sold 10,329 Chevy Equinox, 6,187 Blazer, and another 2,383 Silverado EVs in Q1. Thanks to its partnership with GM, Honda had an impressive sales quarter, selling over 14,000 EVs, including its luxury Acura brand.
The Prologue SUV remained one of the top-sellers with 9,561 units sold in the first quarter, while the Acura ZDX added another 4,813.
According to Cox Automotive, Honda led EV sales growth for new entrants in Q1, followed by Acura, Jeep, and Dodge.
Jeep sold 2,595 Wagoneer S models during the quarter, its first electric SUV sold in the US. Dodge, another Stellantis-owned brand, sold 1,947 Charger EVs, or what it calls the world’s first electric muscle car.
Although Chevy’s Equinox EV made a statement in Q1, Ford’s Mustang Mach-E remained the top-selling non-Tesla with 11,607 models sold.
| Rank | EV model | Q1 2025 sales |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 64,051 |
| 2 | Tesla Model 3 | 52,520 |
| 3 | Ford Mustang Mach-E | 11,607 |
| 4 | Chevrolet Equinox EV | 10,329 |
| 5 | Honda Prologue | 9,561 |
| 6 | Hyundai IONIQ 5 | 8,611 |
| 7 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 7,663 |
| 8 | Ford F-150 Lightning | 7,187 |
| 9 | BMW i4 | 7,125 |
| 10 | Tesla Cybertruck | 6,406 |
After introducing the upgraded 2025 IONIQ 5 (which now has even more range and an NACS charging port), Hyundai sold 8,611 electric SUVs in Q1, an increase of 26% from last year.
Porsche had the highest EV sales volume growth after launching the electric Macan. With 3,339 units added, the Macan EV made up for Porsche Taycan sales falling 18% to just 1,019.
As Cox Automotive Analyst Stephanie Valdez Streaty noted, “The year certainly started strong, but the road ahead will be anything but smooth.”
Trump ending federal incentives and introducing new tariffs will “pose a monumental challenge for many automakers,” according to Valdez Streaty. Despite several new models arriving and significant incentives being offered (at least for now), the rest of 2025 “will likely be a volatile one for EV sales in the US.”
Ready to score some savings while they are still here? We can help you get started. You can use our links below to find deals on the top-selling EVs in your area.
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![Electric concrete pump truck can drive 30 miles, pump 65 cubic yards [video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/04/putzmeister_electric-pump.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Based on a capable Volvo FM Electric 8×4 chassis, Putzmeister revealed one of the world’s largest all electric concrete pump trucks at the bauma equipment expo in Munich, Germany this week. The zero-emission concrete pumper can up to 50 km and pump approximately 50 cubic meters of concrete on a single charge.
50 km (a little over 30 miles) and 50 cubic meters (about 65 cubic yards) may not seem like impressive numbers, but consider this: a single cubic yard of concrete weighs a little over 4,000 lbs. (2 tons). A bit of simple math later, and you’ve got a quiet, vibration-free machine blasting (65 cu. yds ×4,100 lbs./yd = 266,500 lbs.) of construction material nearly 140 feet (42 meters) in the air.
That’s over 130 tons of construction material moved a really long way, and that’s (of course) without the use of diesel or gas.
“Volvo Trucks is the innovator when it comes to new technologies in combination with electric trucks. After presenting electric concrete mixers and heavy applications for mining, we are proud to show yet another world-class innovation for the construction segment here at bauma,” says Christoph Fitz, Head of Sales at Volvo Trucks in Germany. “With this electric pump truck, customers can have a zero-exhaust emission solution, low-noise operation and an efficient process thanks to the work-while-charging capacity.”
The Volvo FM Electric-based concrete pump is motivated by a pair of electric motors developing a continuous 330 kW (442 hp) of output through the company’s proprietary I-Shift gearbox. The truck’s four battery packs add up to 360 kWh of capacity, which can DC fast charge at speeds up to 250 kW or operate continuously (pumping even more material) with grid power or PU500 remote power connection.
Electrek’s Take
There will surely be a few nay-sayers who’ll try to cite the relatively short-sounding range of trucks like this, or the 100-ton Tadano mobile electric crane, but the range is typically more than enough to operate in urban environments and motivate the asset across even the largest job sites. Additionally, the ability to plug in to grid power and operate 24/7 makes all of that quieter, safer, cleaner … and moot.
SOURCES | IMAGES: Putzmeister; Volvo Trucks.
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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes an analysis of how the Trump tariffs will affect e-bike pricing in the US, USB-C chargeable e-bikes launched by Ampler, Specialized e-bike recall, Juiced Bikes revived as a brand, kayak camping with the JackRabbit XG Pro, Walkcar’s new device that does the walking for you, and more.
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