Google’s sister company Waymo, which has been developing technology for self-driving cars since 2009 and has operated the Waymo One robotaxi service in Chandler, Phoenix, Arizona for a limited number of users since November 2018, today announced in an announcement that Waymo One is now open to the general public in Phoenix.
Beginning today, October 8, we’re excited to open up our fully driverless offering to Waymo One riders. Members of the public service can now take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world. We’ll start with those who are already a part of Waymo One and, over the next several weeks, welcome more people directly into the service through our app (available on Google Play and the App Store).
In 2020, between 5 and 10 percent of all trips were already completely driverless, i.e. without a security driver on board. Waymo also announced that in the near future, 100 percent of trips will be completely driverless.
In the near term, 100% of our rides will be fully driverless. We expect our new fully driverless service to be very popular, and we’re thankful to our riders for their patience as we ramp up availability to serve demand.
Later this year, after Waymo completed the installation of in-vehicle barriers between the front row and the rear passenger cabin for vehicle hygiene and safety, the company plans to reintroduce driver-trained driving, which will increase capacity and allow it to serve a larger geographic area in Phoenix.
This article was also published in German.
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