Waymo, a ride-hailing service that uses self-driving cars, expanded its service areas in California starting June 17 despite the destruction of several vehicles during recent Los Angeles riots.

“Ride to more places in the Bay and L.A. ... starting today in [San Francisco], with new areas coming to L.A. later this week,” the company, which is based in Northern California, announced on social media platform X.

The company’s expanded San Francisco service area now includes Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, and Menlo Park. Waymo already serves San Francisco, Daly City, Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View.

In Southern California, the company will expand from serving Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Koreatown, Santa Monica, and Culver City to include Silverlake, Downtown Los Angeles, and Inglewood, according to Waymo’s X post.

At least five Waymo cars were vandalized and burned on Los Angeles streets on June 8 during riots and protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the region.

The incidents garnered widespread attention. Videos and photos showed rioters hailing the vehicles through cellphone apps. Once the cars arrived, rioters sprayed graffiti on them, tore apart equipment, and set them ablaze while taking photos and video of themselves.

Waymo temporarily suspended its service in the downtown area the next day.

“Regarding the protests—we are in touch with the LAPD,” Waymo spokeswoman Anjelica Price-Rocha told The Epoch Times in a June 18 email.

The company offered no estimate of its losses during the riots.

Waymo cars were also targeted in the Chinatown neighborhood of San Francisco on Feb. 10, 2024, during Lunar New Year celebrations.

Videos posted on social media showed dozens of people surrounding a stopped Waymo on Jackson Street, with some using markers to graffiti the car and others using a skateboard to break its windows. As in Los Angeles, the vehicles were also set on fire.

In March 2024, state regulators approved Waymo’s application to expand in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Protesters wave flags amid wrecked and burning Waymo vehicles as they clash with law enforcement near the federal building in Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. (Ringo Chiu/AFP via Getty Images)

In approving the request, the California Public Utilities Commission stated that the company’s new features and safety protocols “demonstrated Waymo’s attention to continuous evaluation and improvement of its technology, safety practices, and aspects of its operations involving humans (such as Rider Support and Remote Assistance) that minimize risk of driverless passenger service operations in a larger and more diverse [area].”

Waymo provides thousands of rides to people every day, the company said in a Jan. 19 letter to the commission, noting it had already provided more than 1 million driverless rides in California and Arizona.

The company operates in San Francisco at all hours, according to its website.