June 17 (Reuters) - Waymo will expand into more areas of

the San Francisco peninsula and parts of Silicon Valley, as the

sole commercial robotaxi operator in the U.S. seeks to scale up

operations, the Alphabet unit said on Tuesday.

The self-driving technology firm had received approval from

California last month to expand operations, just as Tesla

prepares to launch its paid robotaxi service in Austin,

Texas.

Starting Tuesday, Waymo is expanding its autonomous

ride-hailing service to new areas across the peninsula,

including Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae and

Burlingame.

In the Silicon Valley, Waymo is expanding into more parts of

Palo Alto and Menlo Park. It will also expand into more parts of

Los Angeles starting Wednesday, including Playa del Rey, Ladera

Heights, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and the full stretch of Sunset

Boulevard, the Alphabet unit said.

While the company has received approval to expand into San

Jose, it has not yet revealed plans to launch the service in the

city.

Waymo is the only U.S. firm to run robotaxi services with

paying passengers. It has more than 1,500 vehicles, running over

250,000 rides a week across San Francisco and Los Angeles in

California, Phoenix in Arizona and Austin in Texas.