Waymo brings it driverless cars on highways in and around three major US cities. These areas include San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
The platform did not specify how many of these vehicles have been given the green light to access the highway, limiting itself to saying that access is given to “an increasing number of public users.” At least families can play a new road trip game involving cars with strangely rotating LiDAR units on the roof.
Google’s taxi company says these road trips can be used for daily commutes, trips to multiple airports, or simply for trips from, say, downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. San Francisco’s catchment area is extremely large, covering the entire peninsula. The recently expanded service extends to San Jose, including San Jose Mineta International Airport.
This is just the beginning of this freeway expansion, assuming all goes well in these early stages. To this end, the platform states that its vehicles have already traveled “millions of kilometers” on highways and can “effectively handle road dynamics.”
Waymo notes that it plans something similar for Austin, Atlanta and other unannounced regions. Next year, the company will also bring its autonomous vehicles to San Diego, Detroit and Las Vegas, but they won’t be on highways just yet.
(tagToTranslate) driverless cars
