Robotics Business Review

Waymo Launches World’s First Robotaxi Service Without Safety Drivers

Organization: Waymo
Country: USA
Website: www.waymo.com
Year Founded: 2009 (formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project)
Number of Employees: 1500+
Innovation Class: Applications & Markets Innovation
Innovation Subclass: Transportation

Level 4 driverless cars arrived in the U.S., albeit in a limited capacity, thanks to Waymo.

Description:
In October 2020, Waymo opened its Level 4 driverless robotaxi service, called Waymo One, to the general public in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The driverless Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans operate in about a 50-square-mile area in the suburbs of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Tempe.

Waymo has been testing its autonomous vehicles around Phoenix for years. Since 2017, some of the cars have had nobody behind the wheel, but that was only for certain tests and select riders. But now anybody can take a paid ride in a Waymo One driverless robotaxi around the clock, seven days a week.

Analysis:
With the public launch last year, Waymo became the first company in the world to open a Level 4 driverless robotaxi service without safety drivers to the general public. Although the launch was a bit behind schedule, and Waymo hasn’t scaled this service to any other locations as of press time, this was a monumental moment for the autonomous vehicle industry.

The Waymo One service isn’t perfect, there are still disengagements that require Waymo employees to manually take over control of the vehicles. But no other company in the U.S. can match what Waymo is doing. Fellow RBR50 company AutoX recently launched China’s first L4 robotaxi service without safety drivers in Shenzhen.

L4 driverless cars have arrived in the U.S., albeit in a limited capacity, thanks to Waymo. It recently ramped up its testing operations in San Francisco, and applied for a permit to charge for rides and delivery services. – Steve Crowe



Search Robotics Business Review