Alphabet’s Waymo said on Wednesday that it will begin offering robotaxi rides that use freeways across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, a first for the Google subsidiary as it steps up expansion amid global and domestic competition in the self-driving industry.
Freeway rides will initially be available to early-access users, Waymo said. “When a freeway route is meaningfully faster, they can be matched with a freeway trip, providing quicker, smoother, and more efficient rides,” it said.
Waymo, which already operates in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, is also extending operations to San Jose, including Mineta San Jose international airport, the second airport in its service area after Phoenix Sky Harbor.
The move comes as Tesla expands its robotaxi service with safety monitors and drivers, and Zoox – backed by Amazon – offers free robotaxi rides on and around the Las Vegas Strip.
Waymo is the only company that runs a paid robotaxi service in the US, a fleet of more than 1,500 vehicles, without safety drivers or in-vehicle monitors. Waymo first began offering paid rides in Phoenix, Arizona in 2020 about 11 years after the company, formerly known just as Google’s self-driving car project, first began working on developing and testing out autonomous technology.
Waymo has been growing slowly but steadily over the years, and the company, like its rivals, has faced federal investigations over unexpected driving behavior.
Freeway driving is relatively less complicated than navigating the many variables of a city street but introduces a new set of factors the vehicles have to maneuver around at much faster speeds, including other merging vehicles and how to exit. While operating autonomous vehicles is more challenging in a city with pedestrians, frequent intersections and unpredictable situations, any mistakes or malfunctions at high speeds on a freeway could have severe consequences. The company said it had developed new freeway protocols with local highway patrols and safety agencies.
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While Tesla has long offered driver-assist features on freeways, the move will make Waymo the first company to offer driverless rides on a freeway.