After Phoenix in Arizona, Waymo wants to deploy its Waymo One robot taxi service in San Francisco. The Alphabet subsidiary, which develops autonomous vehicles, announced on February 17, 2021 that it had carried out the first taxi rides in this city as part of tests carried out before a more open deployment. These tests are currently being carried out with Waymo employees who have volunteered. The objective is to collect initial feedback to improve the service.
Improvement of its systems
San Francisco is a bustling city with plenty of other road users, including other vehicles, public transportation, pedestrians, cyclists, and more. Over the past decade Waymo has tested its technology in many cities to achieve the most reliable self-driving car possible. The Alphabet subsidiary even managed to deploy a first security driverless robotic taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona.
Waymo explains that it has optimized its 360 ° vision system and lidars so that the vehicle can circulate in complex urban environments. The on-board system can detect traffic light changes from a distance or pedestrians crossing outside zebra crossings. The software is also trained to take into account all the circumstances in order for example to anticipate passengers getting off a bus and crossing the road.
Cruise or Waymo, who will be first?
According to the latest annual report released by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Waymo reported only 21 disengages out of the 997,800 kilometers made by its autonomous vehicles in California during the past year. Disengages are the events in which the security operator has regained control of the vehicle. In total, the Alphabet subsidiary identifies 32 million kilometers traveled during tests in real conditions in 25 cities and 32 billion kilometers traveled during simulations, states VentureBeat.
It is now possible for companies obtaining the necessary permits to market robot taxi rides in California. Waymo is not the only player who could benefit from this marketing authorization. Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, has started testing without a security operator in neighborhoods in San Francisco and could soon deploy its first robot taxi service there.
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