Waymo will start testing its self-driving Jaguar I-Paces without a human security operator in Los Angeles in the coming days. This is the company's next step on its way to commercializing robotaxi services in its second Californian city.
For starters, only employees will be able to request rides in the driverless robotaxis. Although Waymo has been mapping various Los Angeles neighborhoods, including Downtown, the Miracle Mile, Koreatown and Westwood, since 2019, the company will begin its passenger-only trials in Santa Monica before ramping up. The services will be available "outside of traditional peak hours," a spokesperson said.
The self-driving technology company owned by A first announced its plans to launch a 24/7 robotaxi service in Los Angeles in October. A month later, the California Department of Motor Vehicles granted Waymo a modification to its existing driverless testing permit so that it could expand beyond San Francisco and into Los Angeles.
At that time, the DMV also granted Waymo permission to begin charging for services, such as delivery, conducted fully autonomously in San Francisco. Currently, Waymo operates a commercial robotaxi service in the city, but can only collect passengers when there is a human security operator in the front seat. The company is still waiting for the final permission it needs from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to charge for driverless robotaxi services in San Francisco.
Waymo would not say when it expects to open self-drive rides to members of its Trusted Tester program, members of the public who have signed confidentiality agreements to participate. To do this, he will need to obtain another permit from the CPUC, the driverless pilot permit.
There are a few more permits to get before Waymo can start a commercial robotaxi service in Los Angeles, which could mean more months of testing and rollout. The company is confident that it will be able to achieve faster scale in Los Angeles than in San Francisco due to Waymo's "proven driveability and quality of on-road operations" as well as the capabilities of its fifth-generation driver. .
“Excited by the data confirming, once again, how well our ML-based 5th generation Driver is going mainstream across cities”Dmitri Dolgov, Waymo's co-CEO, tweeted.
Waymo also recently made fully autonomous rides available to the public from downtown Phoenix to the airport.. The company has had a paid robotaxi service in Chandler, just outside of Phoenix, since 2020.
