Waymo doubles robotaxi service area in Phoenix in bid to grow driverless trips tenfold

News Summary

  • By December of that year, the company launched its commercial robotaxi service called Waymo One in Phoenix.Waymo is also putting its resources into growing its service area in San Francisco, despite the lack of revenue.
  • The expansion will also help the company scale beyond the 10,000 autonomous trips that public riders take each week in Phoenix and San Francisco combined, Waymo Chief Product Officer Saswat Panigrahi said in a media briefing.
  • Waymo began in May 2018 allowing some early riders to hail a self-driving minivan without a human test driver behind the wheel.
  • Videos of Waymo and rival Cruise vehicles clogging streets have circulated on social media, prompting city officials and some residents to criticize the technology.
  • Earlier this year, San Francisco transportation officials sent protest letters to the CPUC asking the agency to slow down the companies’ expansion plans.
  • Waymo removed employees and passengers from its test fleet in 2017, sending empty self-driving minivans onto the streets of greater Phoenix.
Waymo is doubling its commercial robotaxi service area in the Phoenix metro area, an expansion that will add new suburbs and connect previously isolated sections of the sprawling and cardependent de [+3157 chars]