Waymo’s San Francisco Robotaxi Expansion Gets Court’s Safety Nod

Alphabet Inc.‘s Waymo LLC has a valid driverless passenger permit to operate in San Francisco, a California state appeals court ruled Tuesday, citing evidence of a good safety record for the self-driving taxi service.

Data that self-driving cars crash more often than average human drivers was rejected by three justices in the California Court of Appeal, First District, who found flaw with an “extrapolated number” used by San Francisco city and the county Transportation Authority.

The figure San Francisco used was based on a limited data set and failed to account for factors like whether drivers were in rural ...