San Francisco’s Waymo autonomous taxis are no longer reserved for testers and early adopters of the service: the branch of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) announced on Tuesday that it was making this service accessible to the general public, despite the controversies surrounding autonomous cars. driver.
After three years of testing, the leading company in robotaxis had already generalized its service in 2020 for consumers in Phoenix, Arizona, a city located on a plain in the southwest of the United States, well-squared, with few pedestrians and very sunny.
In San Francisco, a Californian metropolis where drivers must negotiate steep hills, bike lanes, trams and much more unpredictable weather, testing on current models began in 2021.
Driverless taxi, or robotaxi.
AFP
The service became chargeable there last summer and nearly 300,000 people registered on the waiting list, the equivalent of more than a quarter of the city’s population.
“With tens of thousands of trips every week, Waymo One transports residents and visitors in a safe, sustainable and reliable manner,” welcomes the technology giant in a press release.
The big, silent white Jaguars, with no one behind the wheel, have become sufficiently banal to turn the heads of only tourists, but they remain decried by some of the residents.
In May, the US Highway Safety Authority launched an investigation into these electric taxis, after several incidents involving collisions with some of these taxis stopped on the road or blocking traffic.
Waymo, however, remains the most advanced company in the sector. Also present in a more limited way in Los Angeles, another Californian city, and in Austin, Texas, it had about 700 vehicles in February, including 300 in San Francisco, according to CNBC.
His rival Cruise, implicated in several accidents, had to suspend his robotaxis During months.
One of the cars of this General Motors subsidiary ran over a pedestrian in San Francisco in October who had just been hit by another vehicle with a driver.
Before this incident, Cruise offered its services in several city centers. The company resumed operations in April, but only with drivers, for research, starting in Phoenix.
The highway authority is also investigating Zoox (Amazon), Ford and Tesla.
Elon Musk, who has been promising self-driving cars for “next year” for years, announced that he would unveil the “next year” in August.robotaxis You’re here”.
