Hollywood's newest star is the Waymo robotaxi

• Waymo can now operate its Waymo One service in Los Angeles.
• The driverless vehicle company faced opposition from city and county officials.
• The approval comes amid controversy and mistrust toward driverless rideshare companies.

Waymo is now approved to operate its driverless vehicles in Los Angeles and additional parts of the Bay Area.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved the Alphabet-owned transportation company's bid to expand operations despite protests from major cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as the County of San Mateo.

"We're grateful to the CPUC for this vote of confidence in our operations, which paves the way for the deployment of our commercial Waymo One service in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Peninsula," Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina told Business Insider in a statement.

Waymo began testing its autonomous driving program in Los Angeles last year and petitioned the state in January of this year to approve its passenger safety plan.

During this process, the company was met with backlash from city and county officials. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass expressed concern about Waymo vehicles blocking the roads when emergency vehicles are trying to pass, which has happened several times in San Francisco.

Ilina, the Waymo spokesperson, highlighted that despite the opposition from officials, the company also received 81 letters of support, many from advocacy groups, including anti-drunken driving and anti-street racing organizations, disability groups, and cycling and pedestrian groups.

Waymo says data shows its vehicles are less likely to be involved in injury-causing crashes than human vehicles.

Ilina said that Waymo would take a "careful and incremental approach" when expanding its robotaxi service and would work with "city officials, local communities, and our partners." Illina did not expand on the timeline of this expansion, but said that members of the public have taken over 15,000 rides in Los Angeles.

Waymo and other driverless rideshare companies like Cruise have faced controversy, especially in San Francisco — a hub for these startups.

Waymo vehicles have been filmed cutting off road access and blocking public transport and emergency vehicles. There are also a few incidents of Waymo vehicles injuring people.

San Francisco transportation officials have long called for a slower rollout of Cruise's autonomous taxis, citing insufficient testing data and a lack of record logs that keep track of incidents such as collisions.

Tilly Chang, executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA), previously told Business Insider that giving Cruise the ability to operate driverless taxis 24/7 was "premature."

Days after the company received the green light from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate 24/7, Cruise had its permits revoked by the DMV last year after an incident in which one of its vehicles dragged a woman underneath the car for 20 feet. The DMV said the company failed to disclose the video footage, Vice reported.

Mistrust in these vehicles may have culminated in a community burning of a Waymo vehicle to a crisp during a February Lunar New Year celebration in San Francisco, videos of the incident show.

Although motivations for the incident had not been determined, one of the onlookers in the crowd can be heard shouting, "Light that shit on fire!"