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By Arghyadeep Dutta, 4:30 pm ET:
Alphabet Inc’s autonomous vehicle unit Waymo on Tuesday said it will offer rides to select passengers in San Francisco, marking its second launch of a self-driving cab-hailing service and strengthening commercial ambitions.
Waymo started its cab service with its fully driverless cars last fall in Phoenix, Arizona and said it served “tens of thousands of fully autonomous rides” since October.
However, unlike Arizona, passengers in San Francisco will have a safety driver behind the wheel, Waymo spokesperson told Bloomberg. San Francisco’s hilly, dense streets are notoriously difficult for autonomous cars.
Waymo has been carrying out its trial run around the city since 2009, without passengers, to map out the area and learn routes and traffic situations, and the firm touted that it has “accumulated more autonomous driving miles in California than anyone in the industry.”
While some former executives of the company complained about long delays to launch the vehicles for the public and overly cautious management, Waymo said they favor a safe approach.
In San Francisco, residents can sign up for the “trusted testers” program to take rides in its electric Jaguar SUVs, which the company described as a “research-focused” effort to collect feedback on ride experience and gathering information related to accessibility.
The company told Bloomberg that the rides will be free for an unspecified amount of time.
San Francisco is one of the largest ride-hailing markets in the U.S. and home to the two most prominent players, Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc.
Self-driving company Cruise, which is backed by General Motors Co, received regulatory approval this summer to offer rides in the area.
Ford Motor Co said it’s teaming up with Lyft to provide robo taxis in Miami and Austin later this year.
Picture Credit: Autonews