SAN FRANCISCO, May 19 (Reuters) - Alphabet's

self-driving unit Waymo said on Monday it received approval from

California to expand its robotaxi operations in more areas of

the San Francisco Peninsula and further south, including San

Jose.

Waymo's permission from California comes as Tesla

gears up to roll out a paid robotaxi service in Austin, Texas,

next month. CEO Elon Musk has said the electric vehicle maker

will expand the service to California later this year.

Waymo requested authorization to expand its operations in

March and received 23 responses in support and no protests from

stakeholders, California Public Utilities Commission said in a

statement.

Waymo, however, said it would not expand the services in the

San Francisco Bay Area immediately.

"We want to bring Waymo One to more of the Bay Area, and any

expansion of the service will happen methodically over time," a

company spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not provide any

reason for that decision and said there were "no imminent plans

or timeline to share."

Waymo is the only U.S. firm to run uncrewed robotaxi

services carrying paying passengers. The company has more than

1,500 vehicles on the road across San Francisco, Los Angeles,

Phoenix and Austin, Texas, and runs over 250,000 rides a week.

Self-driving vehicle companies have been under increased

regulatory scrutiny following a major accident in 2023 in San

Francisco involving a robotaxi from General Motors' ( GM )

Cruise, which later shut operations.

Waymo, which has been growing its presence steadily, is

recalling more than 1,200 self-driving vehicles to update

software and address risks of collisions with chains, gates and

other roadway barriers, the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NHTSA) said last week. U.S. auto safety

investigators had opened a probe last year.

NHTSA has been investigating Tesla's full self-driving

collisions in reduced roadway visibility conditions since

October and asked the company last week to answer questions on

its robotaxi launch plans to assess how the vehicles would

perform in poor weather.