Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL subsidiary Waymo said on Tuesday that its autonomous ride-hailing service called Waymo One is now open to everyone in San Francisco around the clock, making it the second city where anyone can simply download the app and hail an autonomous car to get around.
What Happened: “We've been operating in San Francisco for years now, deliberately scaling our service over time. With tens of thousands of weekly trips, our Waymo One service provides safe, sustainable, and reliable transportation to locals and visitors to the city alike. Now it's available to anyone,” Waymo said in a statement.
San Francisco has now joined Phoenix, Arizona, as the only other city where Waymo One rides are available to everyone.
Until recently, Waymo One rides were only available to those who signed up to ride with the company and joined its waitlist. The company was adding new riders to the service incrementally. However, it has now scrapped the waitlist altogether, after over a quarter of the city’s population signed up to ride with it.
Interested riders can now simply download the Waymo One app and take a ride across the city.
Why It Matters: However, safety concerns continue to plague autonomous vehicle operators including Waymo.
Earlier this month, Waymo recalled 672 of its self-driving vehicles after identifying their inability to avoid a pole or pole-like objects. The company identified the issue after one of its self-driving cars collided with a wooden utility pole in an alleyway in Phoenix, Arizona late last month, is said in a filing with the U.S. auto safety regulator National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Waymo fixed the issue with a software update to improve its reaction to pole-like objects and "robust" mapping updates and improvements.
In May, NHTSA commenced a probe into Waymo vehicles following reports of unexpected driving behaviors. These reports included collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates and chains, as well as collisions with other parked vehicles. Some instances also pertain to the driving system disobeying traffic rules.
The regulator expressed concern that these driving behaviors may increase the risks of crash and injury. “Although this office is unaware of injury allegations, several of the incidents involved collisions with clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be expected to avoid,” the regulator wrote in a letter to Waymo dated May 23.
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