Waymo’s robot taxis no longer require drivers.Image: keystone
Driverless robotaxis are a reality in at least three US cities. Google’s sister company Waymo has broken the 100,000 rides per week mark – and will soon be able to benefit from cheaper technology.
21.08.2024, 10:0421.08.2024, 17:01
The robotaxi company Waymo has reached the next milestone: its vehicles now make more than 100,000 trips with passengers per week. The Google sister company only cracked the 50,000 mark in May. After that, the service was made available to anyone interested in San Francisco without a waiting list. Waymo is also active in Los Angeles and Phoenix.
The company’s vehicles are expensive because of the computers, cameras and sensors they need – but Waymo is in the process of cutting costs. The next generation of vehicles and software will only need 13 cameras instead of the previous 29. The number of laser radars that scan the area around the cars will be reduced from five to four.
The 6th generation of the Waymo system is to be integrated into electric cars of the Zeekr brand of the Chinese company Geely. Waymo is currently using converted vehicles of the Jaguar iPace model, which is also battery-powered.
New robotaxi in road tests
Waymo is particularly advanced in developing software for autonomous driving and transports passengers with driverless robotaxis in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Zeekr’s new vehicle is currently being tested with safety drivers at the wheel. Waymo has not yet given any information on when it will be integrated into the commercial fleet. Waymo manager Satish Jeyachandran told US broadcaster CNBC that he expects the two latest generations of the system to be on the road side by side. The company has several hundred Jaguar vehicles in operation.
Hardly any rivals for Waymo
Waymo currently has virtually no competition in the robotaxi business. The General Motors subsidiary Cruise was expanding rapidly, but it stopped its vehicles for several months after an accident in which a pedestrian was dragged several meters by one of the cars in San Francisco. The Cruise cars are only just beginning to return to the streets. Zoox, a company owned by Amazon, is still working on launching its driverless taxi rides in Las Vegas.
Tesla also plans to present the prototype of a robot taxi in October. However, it could take years before the vehicle hits the streets. In addition, many experts are skeptical, as Tesla boss Elon Musk has so far dispensed with laser radars for cost reasons and wanted to achieve autonomy only with cameras.
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source: ap/waymo / julia wang
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