Waymo appears to have started driverless driving on highways a few days ago. Until now, the robot cabs of Google’s sister company have avoided highways, where speeds of around 65 miles per hour (approx. 100 km/h) are driven. Although it may seem easier at first to drive autonomously on highways, as there are no pedestrians, intersections or other complications and road users prevalent in urban areas, the higher speeds pose their own challenges. There is less reaction time and even minor errors can have dramatic consequences.
Waymo now seems to have sufficient confidence in its own technology because, as Daylen Yang, Senior Staff Software Engineer at Waymo, writes in a post on Twitter, driverless Waymo cars are now driving on freeways in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
This adds another piece of the puzzle to the overall picture of Waymo’s self-driving technology, as it now opens up the possibility of opening up further parts of the existing service areas. Waymo is already licensed to offer its robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area between San Francisco and San Jose, but has so far only covered San Francisco and some neighboring regions to the south, and the separate region in the Bay Area between Redwood City and Sunnyvale. Now Waymos may be able to include Highways 101 and 280, covering the entire western Bay Area.
Here’s a video of a driverless Waymo on a freeway at 65 miles per hour.
This article was also published in German.
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