Waymo Eyes Austin As Next Ride-Hail City After San Francisco, To Scale Services In Golden Gate City

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL on Tuesday gave an update on its self-driving technology unit Waymo during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.

What Happened: Waymo, Alphabet said, is currently onboarding more riders to its commercial ride-hailing service. It is adding 100,000 plus people from its San Francisco waitlist, the company added.

Austin, the company said, will be the next ride-hail city after San Francisco.

Why It Matters: General Motors Co‘s Cruise and Waymo received permits for 24/7 fare-based autonomous operations in San Francisco in August.

On receiving the permit, Waymo had said that it would gradually welcome more riders while adding that it expects ‘incredibly high’ demand. The gradual addition of riders will allow for reliable service during the expansion, it said.

“Over a thousand riders have already been enjoying fully autonomous trips across all of San Francisco, and we'll make it available to everyone over time,” the company had said.

Meanwhile, Cruise’s AV deployment license was suspended on Tuesday by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles citing ‘unreasonable risk' to public safety. 

Photo Courtesy: Sundry Photography On Shutterstock.com

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