Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Waymo, a unit under Google’s parent company Alphabet, specializes in autonomous vehicle services, from ride shares to deliveries. Up to this point, the service has been operating in San Francisco in an early trial phase, albeit with safety drivers on board. Now, Waymo has announced that it’s ready to take the next step and go fully driverless with its service.
In a post to the Waymo blog, co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana penned an open letter to the people of San Francisco, sharing the update on the company’s business. Now six months into the Trusted Tester Program, he reflects on all the feedback the team has received and how it has been used to improve the service in that time. Providing a few anecdotes from Waymo users, Mawakana closes his message by announcing the company’s intention to go fully autonomous.
“We’re now ready to begin introducing the Waymo Driver in fully autonomous mode—with no specialist behind the wheel—in the city as a major step on our path to deploying a fully autonomous commercial service.” He goes on to explain that the company benchmarked the Waymo Driver’s performance against its safety evaluation methodologies.
In the blog post, the co-CEO also explains the benefits of having a service like Waymo in San Francisco, citing the city's pedestrian deaths and vehicle-related injuries in 2021. He also talks about the fact that Waymo’s fleet consists exclusively of electric vehicles, which will contribute towards sustainability. More information about Waymo’s move to fully autonomous is set to arrive in the coming months. For updates on the world of technology, electric vehicles, and more, Shacknews is your place.