Waymo gets green light in California to pick up passengers in self-driving cars
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
-
Only Waymo employees and guests will get to ride at first.
Image: Waymo
Waymo was awarded a permit by the California Public Utilities Commission to take part in the state’s autonomous vehicle passenger service pilot program — though it may not charge riders, and a human safety driver must remain behind the wheel. The permit brings the Alphabet company one step closer to launching a robot taxi service in its home state.
Waymo is the fourth company to participate in the pilot program, following Zoox, Autox Technologies, and Pony.ai. The permit is good for three years but is separate from California’s autonomous vehicle testing program. Over 60 companies have permits from the DMV to test self-driving cars in the state.
Waymo claims there is no timetable to launch a commercial ride-hailing service in California as it did in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, late last year. That service, Waymo One, provides trips to around 400 volunteer test riders. In addition, the company struck a deal with Lyft to add 10 of its autonomous minivans to the ride-hailing company’s platform in Phoenix.
In California, the company will only give rides to Waymo employees and their guests within its limited service area in the South Bay, which includes the neighborhoods of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto.
“This is the next step on our path to eventually expand and offer more Californians opportunities to access our self-driving technology, just as we have gradually done with Waymo One in Metro Phoenix,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Last year, Waymo became the first company to be granted permission to operate fully driverless cars without human drivers behind the steering wheel on public roads in California. To date, no other company has been authorized to conduct fully driverless testing. Waymo autonomous cars drove about 1.3 million miles on public roads in California in 2018, according to the DMV.
Source: Andrew J. Hawkins|@andyjayhawk (The Verge). ~Best Feeds ™...
Giertz got tired of waiting for Elon Musk to release Tesla’s first pickup truck, so she made one herself. Simone Giertz was tired of waiting for Elon Musk to unveil his new Tesla pickup truck, so she decided to make one herself. The popular YouTuber and self-described “queen of shitty robots” transformed a Model 3 into an honest-to-god pickup truck, which she dubs “Truckla” — and naturally you can watch all the cutting and welding (and cursing) on her YouTube channel. There’s even a fake truck commercial to go along with it. Giertz spent over a year planning and designing before launching into the arduous task of turning her Model 3 into a pickup truck. And she recruited a ragtag team of mechanics and DIY car modifiers to tackle the project: Marcos Ramirez, a Bay Area maker, mechanic and artist; Boston-based Richard Benoit, whose YouTube channel Rich Rebuilds is largely dedicated to the modification of pre-owned Tesla models; and German des...
Chelsea will face Arsenal in the Europa League final on May 29 after knocking out Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties. Chelsea beat Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties on Thursday to set up an all-English Europa League final with local rivals Arsenal in Baku on May 29. Arsenal beat La Liga side Valencia 7-3 on aggregate, while in the other semi-final Chelsea and Eintracht Frankfurt finished 2-2 on aggregate after extra time. Chelsea won 4-3 on penalties to finally overcome their Bundesliga challengers. The result means both of Europe's club competitions will feature all-English finals after Tottenham Hotspur set up a June 1 title decider with Liverpool in the Champions League. Chelsea won the penalty shoot-out 4-3 and with it a place in the final against Arsenal. Kepa Arrizabalaga saved from Martin Hinteregger and Goncalo Paciencia before Hazard converted the decisive kick. Scores, Results & Fixtures THURSDAY 9TH MAY 2019 Chelsea 1 Frankfurt 1 ( Agg 2-2 ...
Lyft claims it has an exclusive license to operate both dockless and docked bikeshares in the city. Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Lyft filed a lawsuit against San Francisco today claiming city authorities are violating a contract it has with the ride-hailing company that gives Lyft exclusive rights to operate bike-share programs in the area. San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency, on the other hand, says it has the authority to sign partnerships with dockless (also called stationless) vendors, and that Lyft’s contract gives it exclusivity only on docked bike shares. Lyft is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the city from issuing bikeshare permits to new vendors. As of today, Lyft owns the company Motivate, which operates the Ford GoBike bikeshare program in San Francisco, a docked program that until very recently offered both electric and non-electric bikes, among many others around the country. (Lyft pulled the e-bikes off city streets in A...
Comments
Post a Comment