Waymo

Waymo says that the next big city it’s going to plant autonomous ride-sharing in is New York. Unfortunately, Waymo’s business model isn’t exactly run of the mill, and that may take some time.

Waymo’s self-driving taxis are burning in numbers during the ongoing protests in LA. The LAPD says that people are ordering Waymo’s autonomous cars with the intention of setting the EVs on fire.

For the past few years, Waymo has focused on expanding its Waymo One ride-hailing service. Waymo is now beginning to look beyond that in partnering with Toyota. 

Back in March, Waymo began opening up to the public in LA. The autonomous Waymo One service is now available to “anyone in Los Angeles.”

The next Waymo vehicle you’ll see on city streets will leverage more custom robotaxi hardware than what came before (Jaguar I-Pace and Chrysler Pacifica). Waymo today detailed its 6th-generation hardware and sensor suite. 

After months of testing via the “Tour” program, Waymo One is launching to “select members of the public in Los Angeles” from March 14 onwards.

Following Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, the Waymo One ride-hailing service is coming next to Austin, with fully autonomous testing starting tomorrow.

Yesterday evening, an autonomous Waymo car was set on a fire in San Francisco. The moment was captured and recorded on social media by several bystanders.

Ahead of a wider launch, a Waymo One Tour will let people in Los Angeles “score early access tickets to take fully autonomous Waymo One rides.”

The Waymo One ride-hailing service today operates on surface streets and will soon be able to use freeways. 

New safety research from Waymo finds that its driverless cars “led to a significant reduction in the rates of police-reported and injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers.”

Back in May, Uber announced a multiyear strategic partnership to make Waymo robotaxis available in its app, and that’s now happening in Phoenix, Arizona.

I’ve been writing about Waymo from afar since 2017, so finally being able to actually use the product was a trip, literally. Last week in San Francisco, I took two Waymo One rides as a completely normal passenger.

Waymo is focusing its “efforts and investment on ride-hailing” with Waymo One being the business priority going forward.

After a big lawsuit several years ago, Uber is partnering with Waymo to add robotaxis to its ride hailing app.

Uber and Lyft competitor Waymo One is expanding its service area in Phoenix and testing in San Francisco ahead of getting a paid permit.

Waymo today announced that it is moving towards a fully electric vehicle-powered fleet for its Waymo One ride-hailing service, as the Jaguar I-PACE replaces older vehicles.

In October, Waymo announced that its ride-hailing service is coming next to Los Angeles following Phoenix and San Francisco. Waymo vehicles have now started “fully-autonomous (no human driver) testing in LA.”