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c/technology · by Daryl76679@lemmy.ml · 2y

Waymo begins testing the waters for a robotaxi service in Los Angeles

https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/20/23880537/waymo-los-angeles-tour-autonomous-robotaxi-tickets

42 points · 5 comments · view on lemmy.world

5 Comments

reddig33@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 2y

Meanwhile Cruise is causing traffic jams in Austin.

https://electrek.co/2023/09/22/cruise-robotaxis-created-a-traffic-jam-in-austin-heres-what-went-wrong/

dawnerd@lemm.ee · 4 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Haven’t they been running in LA for many months now?

Daryl76679@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

The article says that they've been preparing for awhile, but they are now looking to start commercial service.

Waymo has had a small fleet of vehicles mapping the streets of LA since at least 2019, but it only began to make preparations for a commercial service in recent months. Aside from mapping, Waymo has been following its traditional playbook of deploying its vehicles in autonomous mode with a human safety driver behind the wheel before transitioning into a commercially available service.

dawnerd@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y

Must have been test drives then, seen them driving around a bunch for a while now. LA is gonna be a real test of its capabilities for sure!

autotldr@lemmings.world · 2 pts · 2y

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Waymo announced a “tour across Los Angeles” that allows curious residents the opportunity to ride in fully autonomous vehicles as the Alphabet-owned company begins to lay the groundwork for the launch of a commercial robotaxi service.

Robotaxi companies in San Francisco have been facing pushback from city officials who oppose their expansion, citing blocked intersections and obstructed emergency vehicles.

Waymo has had a small fleet of vehicles mapping the streets of LA since at least 2019, but it only began to make preparations for a commercial service in recent months.

Aside from mapping, Waymo has been following its traditional playbook of deploying its vehicles in autonomous mode with a human safety driver behind the wheel before transitioning into a commercially available service.

For Waymo, LA represents its biggest and possibly most challenging market to date: a metropolitan area of 13 million people with crisscrossing freeway ramps, narrow surface streets, many unprotected left turns, blinding sunsets down its east-west roads, and a plethora of distracted drivers.

Waymo is locked in a tight race with Cruise and other AV companies to get more robot cars on the street so it can start seeing a return on its enormous investment.

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