When Google spun off its self-driving car project in 2016 as a separate company called Waymo, the auto world took notice. Since then, Waymo has led the pack of autonomous vehicle developers, setting the stage for what could be a massive transformation in personal mobility. The company was among the first to deploy fully driverless cars, and it has its sights set on ride-hailing and freight hauling as its commercial pursuits. Waymo’s position at the top of the technological hierarchy will tell us whether self-driving cars are truly transformative or just a passing fad.
During Alphabet’s earnings call on Tuesday, CFO Ruth Porat said the company will “commit to a new multi-year investment of $5 billion” into Waymo, which has launched its robotaxi service in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
The robotaxi company now covers 315 square miles in Metro Phoenix, making it “the largest autonomous ride-hail territory in the United States” — a totally real and not-at-all-made-up superlative. Even so, the incremental growth shows that Waymo is getting more confident in its driverless capabilities. But some argue the real confidence is when it can start adding multiple new cities in a year. And Waymo still feels like it’s not quite there yet.
That’s how many paid trips Waymo says its driverless vehicles perform each week. For all the speculation and chaos surrounding autonomous vehicles lately, its helpful to remember that fully driverless cars are operating in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix — right now. Waymo credits its “safe and deliberate approach” for its successes. Of course, a quick glance at social media will also expose a lot of deliberate driving on the wrong side of the road behavior.
The Google spinoff is expanding its testing of fully autonomous vehicles further down the San Francisco Peninsula as it looks to grow its robotaxi service area. Waymo has for years tested its vehicles around its offices in Mountain View, as well as downtown SF, and now its looking to combine it all into one big map. Only employees will be riding in the vehicles for now, with access to non-employee passengers at a future date.
At least seven driverless Waymo vehicles blocked the on-ramp to 101 after being flummoxed by a construction site on Portrero Drive, according to video of the incident posted on Reddit. Waymo told TechCrunch the detour necessitated driving on the freeway, for which the vehicles were not approved without a human driver. To me, this is more evidence of the innate, robot-fighting powers of the humble orange cone.
The Google-spinoff has started charging for rides in its autonomous vehicles in Los Angeles, marking its third such city to do so (after Phoenix and San Francisco). The usual caveats apply about limited number of vehicles, waiting lists, and a service area that doesn’t cover the entire city. Will these driverless cars make a difference in a city notorious for its traffic?
Waymo has been offering autonomous rides in Phoenix since late 2022, but now it’s providing transportation for a new kind of customer: your dinner. Starting today, Waymo will start making food deliveries for some Uber Eats customers.
[www.uber.com]
In the clearly just-for-laughs video, Waymo passengers step into an AV tricked out like Grandma’s house — complete with a crotchet steering wheel cover, florals, and a geriatric lady’s voice gently reminding them to buckle up.
Ironically enough, Bloomberg deemed the Alphabet-owned AV startup the “Grandma of Robotaxis” earlier this year. Way to embrace it.
The robotaxi company is ready to start inviting regular people on its waitlist (50,000 and counting) to use its fully driverless vehicles. The vehicles will only operate in a 63 square-mile section that includes Santa Monica and DTLA. And while the initial rides will be free, future rides will not — thanks to a recent thumbs-up from regulators.
The company plans to follow similar rollout in Austin, Texas, “later this year.” The future of autonomous vehicles still seems super cloudy, but Waymo is trying its best to prove the doubters wrong.
Just in time for SXSW! But alas, the descending tech bros won’t get a chance to take selfies in the backseat of Google’s robotaxis this time around. The driverless cars will only be available to Waymo employees until the company feels confident enough to open it up to the public.
When it comes to AVs, the landscape is littered with over-optimistic predictions and missed deadlines. What happened?
Starting today, Phoenix residents can use the Uber app to hail a ride in a driverless Waymo vehicle. The two companies — former rivals turned frenemies (?) — first announced the partnership earlier this year. Tellingly, it’s only available in Arizona, and not California, where tensions around robotaxis are starting to get, well, tense.
California has green-lit 24/7 service expansion of the vehicles in San Francisco, enabling Waymo and Cruise the freedom to operate during daytime hours. Robotaxis are the subject of traffic jam chaos, and one was involved in a crash with an emergency vehicle last week. And they’re expanding to more cities.
The latest episode of Vox’s Today, Explained podcast has Sean Rameswaram hosting Liz Lindqwister, a data journalist for the San Francisco Standard who’s documenting robotaxi expansion — while also using them.
Well that’s a terrible headline! An autonomous Waymo vehicle struck and killed a small dog in San Francisco last month, according to an incident report spotted by TechCrunch. Waymo says the accident was unavoidable, and of course over a million pets are mowed down by human drivers every year. Still, this incident will be an interesting test of my theory about AVs, which is that while we have an extremely high tolerance for death caused by human drivers, we have an extremely low tolerance for robot-caused deaths. My guess is that extends to furry friends too.
