Waymo has been operating a pilot program in Phoenix, Arizona for a while now. That program allows riders to take Waymo autonomous cars to do whatever it is that they need to do for the day. Waymo is expanding that with a new partnership in the metro Phoenix area with Walmart.
It's been some time since we've heard about Apple's code-named Project Titan, the autonomous driving project that is believed to have originally included development on an actual vehicle but was scaled back several years ago to focus on self-driving software. It seems work on the project is still moving forward at a somewhat steady pace, and it may even have gotten a nice boost with Apple confirming that it's hired a senior engineer from Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle division.
Uber, the ridesharing company that is working on the development of its own self-driving vehicles, hopes to get Alphabet's Waymo onboard. Company CEO Dara Khosrowshahi revealed the ambition during Code Conference, explaining that the relationship between the two companies -- which recently settled a major lawsuit -- is warming up.
Waymo and Fiat Chrysler are readying a huge upgrade to the autonomous fleet, with up to 62,000 new self-driving minivans on order and the potential for driverless tech to show up in dealerships. The two companies have already worked together, with Waymo using Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans for its operations in Arizona and elsewhere.
Alphabet has announced plans to launch a Waymo self-driving car service later this year. The service will be launching first in Phoenix, Arizona, where residents and visitors will be able to order a fully autonomous car using the mobile app. Though Waymo isn't the first company to launch a self-driving car service for the public, it does offer a twist: there won't be a human safety driver in the vehicles.
Waymo's computers may not have been at the wheel during the Arizona car crash last Friday, but eventually autonomous car developers will have to figure out just how human they dare let their AI drivers behave. While plenty of attention has been given to the technological barriers to self-driving cars, and a reasonable amount to the insurance and regulatory implications, there's a big black hole in one other key element. That's driverless car ethics.
Waymo has released a video from the driverless car involved in a collision in Arizona today, suggesting there was little either the vehicle or the safety driver could have done to avoid the crash. The incident took place in Chandler, Arizona, one of the cities in which Alphabet-owned Waymo is running trials of its autonomous vehicle technology.
A Waymo self-driving minivan was involved in a crash in Arizona this afternoon, though initial reports suggest the autonomous prototype was not to blame for the collision. Waymo is one of a number of companies running driverless car trials in the state, after efforts by Arizona's governor to encourage high-tech investment with easier regulations.
Alphabet's self-driving division Waymo has applied to test driverless autonomous cars on California roads, the company has confirmed. The application was submitted earlier this week with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Assuming sources expanding on the matter are correct, Waymo plans to start its testing in Mountain View and expand into the Bay Area later on.
Waymo may not be charging for its autonomous car trials right now, but the company knows that it'll need something more special than a minivan when the digital driver wants paying. Witness, therefore, the news today that Waymo and Jaguar will collaborate to turn the new I-PACE all-electric SUV into the latest self-driving chariot.
Waymo just re-introduced the Jaguar I-Pace SUV, what they call the world's first premium electric self-driving car. Waymo and Jaguar Land Rover are in the mix together on this, bringing this vehicle to the self-driving world of cars - for testing - later this year. With this partnership, in the first 2-years of production, the company will be able to create 20k more vehicles for their self-driving fleet.
Waymo has shared video of the first experiences of early riders in its self-driving cars, and anybody hoping for horror or white-knuckle excitement will probably find the whole thing fairly anticlimactic. The Alphabet-owned company, spun out of Google's driverless car research, began trials in Arizona last year, but it's only recently that the state has allowed Waymo to do away with the safety driver altogether.