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Waymo plans to have its robotaxis available to the public in four US cities by the end of the year, but various accidents have impacted the self-driving sector.
Alphabet-owned Waymo is bringing its autonomous ride-hailing service to Los Angeles today (14 March), as part of broader plans to scale up its operations across the US.
The autotech company received approval earlier this month to significantly expand its driverless taxi operations in the state of California. This approval gives Waymo the right to deploy and charge for driverless taxi rides in more parts of the San Francisco Peninsula and Los Angeles.
Waymo said its robotaxi service will be available to “select members of the public” in the city from today and plans to have its services available in four major US cities later this year including Austin, Texas. The news was shared by Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana at the SXSW conference taking place in Austin.
“Once an unimaginable future, autonomous driving is now a real-world way of getting around for tens of thousands of people each week,” Mawakana said. “After achieving key milestones in each city, we’re so excited to bring the safety, comfort and delight of our Waymo One service to more people in Los Angeles and Austin this year.”
Waymo said its robotaxi service will operate in a 63 sq mile area from Santa Monica to downtown LA, with plans to scale up over time. The initial rides will be free, but Waymo said it will transition to paid services in the coming weeks.
“We’ll permanently welcome riders into our service, gradually onboarding the more than 50,000 people on our LA waitlist and continuing to hand out temporary codes at local events throughout the city,” Waymo said in a blogpost.
The company said it is currently testing its autonomous ride-hailing service with employees in a 43 sq mile area in Austin, before it opens up the service to the public. Waymo appeared to adopt a similar testing strategy in San Francisco a few months ago.
Self-driving controversy
But while Waymo is moving to expand its services, the self-driving sector has had some controversial setbacks in recent months that seemed to impact public sentiment.
Last month, Waymo had to issue a voluntary recall of its self-driving software in response to an incident in December when two Waymo vehicles hit a backwards-facing pickup truck. Waymo claimed the truck was being “improperly towed” and was “persistently angled” across a centre turn lane and a traffic lane.
The company also faced a backlash in San Francisco after one of its autonomous cars was set on fire in February – after the vehicle drove into a busy intersection during a Chinese New Year celebration.
But these are smaller-scale incidents compared to the issues facing rival company Cruise, which saw its operations decline significantly after one of its robotaxis dragged and pinned a hit-and-run victim in San Francisco last year.
This incident led to Cruise losing its self-driving permit in the California and the company has refocused its safety efforts in a bid to rebuild trust with the public.
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