Uber, Lyft ... And Now Waymo: The Self-Driving Car Service Hits The Road
With Meghna Chakrabarti
There’s now an app to hail a self-driving taxi. We’ll look behind the wheel at the technology and safety concerns.
Guests
Andrew Hawkins, senior transportation reporter at The Verge. He took a ride in a “Waymo One” taxi one week before the launch of the autonomous ride-hailing service in the Phoenix suburbs. (@andyjayhawk)
Rob Antoniak, chief operating officer of Valley Metro, which helps oversee the Phoenix metropolitan area’s transit system. (@RobRants)
Missy Cummings, professor of mechanical engineering at the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering. Director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab. (@missy_cummings)
Dave Ferguson, president of Nuro, a robotics company that has created a custom autonomous vehicle for the delivery of goods.
Waymo At WorkFrom The Reading List
CNBC: “Waymo starts commercial ride-share service” — “After months of testing and millions of miles developing self-driving vehicle technology, Waymo has officially launched the country’s first commercial autonomous ride-share service.
“The company’s Waymo One program will give customers rides in self-driving vehicles 24 hours a day. Initially, the service will be limited to cities surrounding Phoenix, including Tempe, Mesa and Chandler.
“While there may be many potential customers who want to ride in an autonomous vehicle, the Waymo One service will initially be offered to a limited number of people. Those customers will include hundreds of people in the Phoenix area who were test users of the Waymo self-driving vehicle fleet that has been in development since April 2017.
“‘Self-driving technology is new to many, so we’re proceeding carefully with the comfort and convenience of our riders in mind,’ said Waymo CEO John Krafcik. One example of Waymo taking a cautious approach rolling out its ride-share service is the company’s use of safety drivers to supervise the rides, at least initially. In addition, the company’s app and consoles in the Waymo One vehicles will allow riders to instantly connect with support agents who can assist riders with questions.
“Alphabet’s Waymo One marks the start of the race by automakers, tech companies and other firms to launch autonomous ride-share services. General Motors subsidiary Cruise plans to launch a similar service using self-driving vehicles next year.”
The Verge: “Riding in Waymo One, The Google Spinoff’s First Self-Driving Taxi Service” — “It is late afternoon in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, and I’m getting jittery waiting for my self-driving car to make a left turn before arriving at the coffee shop. Seconds tick by, and the vehicle — an autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivan owned by Waymo — is letting too many opportunities pass by without turning. But before I can get truly annoyed, the Waymo vehicle makes the left, and my mid-afternoon caffeine fix is soon satiated.
“Waymo, the self-driving subsidiary of Alphabet, launched its first commercial autonomous ride-hailing service here in the Phoenix suburbs on Wednesday — a momentous moment for the former Google self-driving project that has been working on the technology for almost a decade. I was one of the lucky few to test out the company’s robot taxi experience a week before the launch. And I say ‘lucky’ because to ride in one of Waymo’s autonomous minivans, not only do you have to live in one of four suburbs around Phoenix, but you also have to be in a very exclusive, 400-person club called the Early Riders.
“It’s not a motorcycle club for morning people, but rather Waymo’s year-and-a-half-old focus group for its self-driving cars. To start out, Waymo’s new self-driving taxi service — dubbed ‘Waymo One’ — will only be available to ‘several hundred’ members of the Early Rider program, said Dan Chu, head of product at Waymo. That’s exclusivity within exclusivity.”
Slate: “Google’s Self-Driving Car Spinoff Waymo Launches Taxi Service in Arizona” — “Waymo, Google’s self-driving car spinoff, launched a taxi service in four Phoenix suburbs on Wednesday. Called Waymo One, the service will initially be available to people who participated in the company’s “early rider” pilot program and will gradually roll out to the general public.
“‘There’s a long journey ahead, but we believe that Waymo One will make the roads safer and easier for everyone to navigate,’ Waymo CEO John Krafcik wrote in a statement.
“Customers are now able to hail Waymo’s self-driving cars 24/7 using an app in which they can enter their pickup locations and destinations. While en route, riders can track the progress of the trip and ask for help from a support agent using the consoles located throughout the car—a Chrysler Pacifica minivan. Each car can fit three adults and one child.” [Copyright 2018 NPR]
