Waymo has opened up its fully driverless ride-hail service in downtown Phoenix to all members of the general public, significantly expanding technology in a major city.
The news comes a day after Waymo received its driverless deployment permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which allows Waymo to collect fees for autonomous services like delivery in San Francisco – and it’s a step toward full driverless deployment in the city Golden state.
The company, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, previously operated the driverless service in downtown Phoenix only to people in its “Trusted Tester” program.
Trusted testers were forbidden from sharing their experiences on social media or with journalists and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Waymo has opened its fully driverless ride-hail service in downtown Phoenix to all members of the general public in a significant expansion and a sign of the company’s commitment to the commercial viability of the technology
The news comes a day after Waymo received its driverless deployment permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which allows Waymo to charge for autonomous services like delivery in San Francisco
Waymo’s downtown Phoenix offering allows anyone who downloads the app and calls for a ride in the Waymo service area to pay for what the company describes as a “driver-only” experience in one of its Jaguar I-Pace referred to as electric vehicles.
Earlier this month, Waymo also launched trips — with a driver in the front seat — to Phoenix’s airport from downtown the city, according to TechCrunch.
The company currently has over 700 vehicles in its fleet, including a mix of Jaguar I-Pace EVs and Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans and Class 8 trucks.
Most of these vehicles are located in Arizona, California and Texas – and are used in test and commercial operations.
Waymo plans to expand to other parts of Phoenix in the coming months. It will likely offer a driverless service to and from the airport first for its own employees and then for trusted testers, followed by the public.
However, the company still has a number of hurdles to overcome before the technology will be widely deployed and accepted by the public.
For example, Waymo has yet to obtain a driverless permit from the California Public Utilities Commission before it can begin charging customers for driving its fully autonomous vehicles stateside.
As of August, Waymo’s fully driverless service covered the East Valley, which includes portions of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Tempe. Within this area, the service has logged more than 500,000 autonomous miles and completed tens of thousands of trips in driver-only mode since October 2020.
The company, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, had previously only operated the driverless service for people in its “Trusted Tester” program
The company currently has over 700 vehicles in its fleet, including a mix of Jaguar I-Pace EVs and Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans and Class 8 trucks
At the time when it was only open to trusted testers, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego shared her experience with the service on Twitter:
“I had the opportunity to take my first driver-only ride with the #WaymoDriver @Waymo fully autonomous driving technology. Phoenicians, I can’t wait for you to experience it for yourself! Check out the Waymo One app to learn more.”
This latest expansion follows accidents in previous years involving autonomous vehicles.
Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car division, reported 62 accidents last year, according to NHTSA, while General Motors’ Cruise, which is used as driverless taxi rides in San Francisco, had 23 accidents.
Elon Musk’s Tesla cars were involved in most of these incidents, 273 out of 392 that took place between July 1, 2021 and May 15 this year. Although Tesla is responsible for about 70 percent of accidents, the automaker has produced a much larger share of all driverless or assisted vehicles currently on American roads.
Between June 2021 and May 2022, Waymo reported a total of 19,625 rides in San Francisco and says there are tens of thousands on its waitlist for trusted testers. Waymo is required to submit quarterly travel reports to the California Public Utilities Commission.