Waymo is aiming to make its autonomous taxis even more appealing by adding WiFi connectivity in them, according to a new report. The WiFi option would enable passengers to use their gadgets without relying on their own mobile service, potentially appealing to customers who want to spend their commuting time getting work done.
Waymo is starting its slow autonomous drive into existing ride-hailing services, with a partnership with Lyft seeing some users of the service offered self-driving minivans for their journey. The collaboration builds on Waymo's existing pilot scheme for Waymo One, the autonomous ride-hailing service it has been offering since late last year.
Waymo's driverless cars are headed to France and Japan, with Alphabet's autonomous vehicle devision inking a new deal with Renault and Nissan. The move will see Waymo's technology expand from its current stomping grounds in the US, where in addition to prototype drives it also operates a Waymo One ride-hailing service in parts of Arizona.
Waymo has begun real-world testing of its newest autonomous fleet, with the first Jaguar I-PACE electric self-driving cars hitting the road in Mountain View, California. The Alphabet-owned Google spin-off inked a deal with Jaguar Land Rover back in March 2018, agreeing to put an astonishing 20,000 of the then-new I-PACE EVs into the driverless fleet over the next two years.
Waymo is bringing its self-driving trucks back to Arizona freeways, the company has announced, marking the return of its big rig testing in the Phoenix region. The company previously tested these autonomous semi-trucks in Arizona in 2017, later deploying the same large vehicles in Atlanta, Georgia. The self-driving vehicle company describes this as a continuation of its testing effort.
Two years ago, self-driving car company Waymo announced a partnership with ride-sharing service Lyft. The company announced the latest evolution in this partnership today, revealing that it will deploy several of its self-driving cars on the Lyft platform to offer public rides. Lyft users will be able to request the rides within the app, but only in one city.
Self-driving car company Waymo is planning to open an 85,000-square-foot "technical service center" in Mesa, Arizona, the company announced on Tuesday. According to Waymo, this new service will more than double its current capacity for servicing, maintaining, and growing its Waymo One fleet. As well, the company says it will hire "up to" hundreds of new employees in the city.
Waymo is announcing a big step today, as it has committed to producing autonomous vehicles in Michigan. Waymo's choice of state probably won't come as a surprise to most folks given Michigan's deep ties to the US auto industry. The company was granted approval to begin manufacturing by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and will now begin looking for a place to set up shop.
After more than a year of testing its self-driving cars in real-world scenarios, Waymo is ready to actually launch its commercial service. Today, the company announced that its self-driving service will be called Waymo One, and it'll first be launching in Phoenix. Don't expect to be ordering Waymo rides right away though, as this is going to be a slow roll out.
Waymo has put safety drivers back in the driver's seat of its autonomous vehicles, sources claim. The change reportedly took place some time within the last month and is said to be the result of safety concerns at Alphabet. As well, a report claims that Waymo is limiting its self-driving car testing to only about 5-percent of the Phoenix metro region.
Waymo's driverless car service could begin taking paying customers as soon as December, sources claim, with the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle project finally taking on Uber and Lyft. The Google spin-off had promised earlier this year that it would launch a commercial ride-hailing service somewhere in the US.
In a blog post on Monday, Waymo CEO John Krafcik revealed that one of the company's self-driving vehicles has been involved in an accident with a motorcycle. The "manual collision" happened in Mountain View, California, on El Camino Real, and was the result of an attempt to avoid a different anticipated wreck, according to the company. The car was not operating itself at the time of the accident.