Waymo Says Ready to Launch Driverless Vehicle Services in San Francisco

The Alphabet-owned unit is yet to announce a timeframe.

By Reuters | Updated: 22 March 2022 12:38 IST

Waymo Says Ready to Launch Driverless Vehicle Services in San Francisco

Photo Credit: Reuters

Waymo needs to collect separate permits to collect customer fares in California

Highlights

Waymo started giving autonomous rides for free in August
The company says it has given hundreds of people 'robo-taxi' rides
Waymo is yet to announce a timeframe for fully driverless services

Alphabet's Waymo unit said on Monday that it is ready to remove safety drivers from its autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, without elaborating on the timeframe for launching fully driverless services.

Waymo in August started giving autonomous rides free of charge to a limited number of people in San Francisco, with safety drivers on board, using its Jaguar electric vehicles.

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said on Monday that it has given hundreds of people 'robo-taxi' rides for the past six months since the rollout in the densely populated city.

Waymo, Cruise Gets California Permit for Autonomous Vehicle Service

The planned driverless operation would mark "a major step on our path to deploying a fully autonomous commercial service," Mawakana said in a blog posting.

Waymo and its rival Cruise, majority owned by General Motors, earlier this month obtained permits from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to allow them to charge riders for trips with a safety driver present in California.

They need to obtain separate permits from the CPUC to start collecting fares for driverless passenger service in California.

Tesla, Cruise, Other Self-Driving Car Companies Zoom Ahead in US

Waymo declined to comment on the status of its driverless permit application with CPUC.

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