When it comes to autonomous vehicles and public transportation, Waymo has the leading edge in the market. It may be embroiled in a legal battle with Uber but that hasn’t stopped the company, which is owned by Alphabet (the same company that Google is a subsidiary of), from making leaps and bounds in the autonomous car market. The company’s next step? Expanding its existing Early Driver Program to families living in Phoenix.
“Like many Americans, Ted, Candace and their four kids have a busy driving routine — heading to work, to school, soccer practice, student council, choir rehearsal and more. Except Ted and Candace aren’t commuting in a typical car. Over the last month, this family, along with a handful of Phoenix, AZ residents, has been riding around in Waymo’s fleet of self-driving vehicles. They’re among the very first people in the world to take part in Waymo’s early rider program. Now, residents in the Phoenix area can apply to join Candace, Ted, and their family in the early rider program.”
– John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo.
The expansion of the trial will result in hundreds of people with diverse backgrounds and transportation needs joining the program. Each will have the opportunity to give feedback about Waymo’s self-driving cars. Furthermore, Waymo isn’t putting any limits on their program; the goal of the Early Driver Program will be to give participants access to the Waymo fleet every day, at any time, to go anywhere within an area that’s about twice the size of San Francisco.
Due to the impending influx of new riders, Waymo will also be expanding their fleet from the 100 existing autonomous cars to around 600 in the following months.
Data that will be gathered by Waymo other than where people want to commute to will be on how families interact with the cars and what features want to be included.
Source: Waymo Blog Post
