Waymo Announces Expansion To Portland
I missed this news when it broke, but Waymo announced in late April its autonomous vehicles are “coming to the Rose City.” The company said it was working closely with state and city officials to “create a regulatory path to deployment as we lay the groundwork for our future service.”
“Starting today, we’ll begin manually driving our vehicles to help familiarize the Waymo Driver with Portland’s distinct streetscapes—from its iconic bridges to its bustling, rain-slicked corridors,” Waymo wrote in a blog post published April 28. “By following our rigorous safety framework, we aim to eventually provide both lifelong residents and first-time visitors with a safe, reliable, and stress-free way to move through the city.”
“As a green transportation leader of one of the safest trucking companies in America, I’ve seen firsthand how emerging technology can transform safety for all road users,” said Portland mayor Keith Wilson in a statement. “We need every tool to help us meet our Vision Zero goals, and autonomous technology plays an increasingly important role in providing a safe, thriving, affordable multimodal transportation system.”
As of this writing, I’ve been in Portland exactly a month. I’m not comfortable going into the details of how or why I’m here, but suffice it to say it’s the primary reason Curb Cuts has been so quiet lately. My mental health has taken an absolute thrashing these last few weeks, compounded by other related factors, so I’ve lacked the emotional and mental bandwidth to write. Here’s hoping that changes soon as I continue to get settled.
Anyway, I’m ecstatic to hear Waymo is coming to Portland’s streets. After a dozen years living in San Francisco, the last few of which I enjoyed using Waymo, its presence is something I’ve genuinely missed deeply here in the Pacific Northwest. Although using Uber has been fine for the most part, I miss the immediacy and serenity of Waymo. As I’ve stumped innumerable times, Waymo has been a bonafide revelation to me in terms of accessible transportation; indeed, some city leaders in Portland want to ban them, and I feel that’s shortsighted. Like in San Francisco, the fervor with which city leaders want not to merely regulate—which I support—but outright forbid self-driving vehicles predictably overlooks the accessibility gains reaped by the Blind and low vision community.
Looking at my stats in the Waymo app on my iPhone, I’ve logged 55 rides spanning 145 miles since February 2024. My last ride was in late January of this year. As soon as Waymo gives the green light on actual people hailing rides here in Portland, the app will reclaim its spot on my Home Screen from Uber. I can’t wait.
