After spending nearly a decade quietly working on self-driving cars, Google finally wants to take people for a ride.Its autonomous spin-off,waymo plans to add 500 Chrysler pacific minivans to the 100 already roaming the roads of phoenix, and invited locals to sign up for free rides to school, work,scoocer practice,or anywhere else they need to go.
Waymo almost certainly possesses the most sophisticated autonomous technology in this increasingly crowded field. After three million miles on the road, its cars can drive thousands of miles without human intervention. But delivering the technology to consumers requires more than developing the right algorithms and hardware.
With its Phoenix launch, Waymo starts solving the other side of the qwuation : the human is the car. Before Waymo can deliver technology people use, it must understand what people need. When do they leave for work? DO they drop the kids at school first? Do they want something in between? That's the sort of information Waymo's competition already collect.
"While Waymo has a market lead with respect to real world testing of autonomous vehicals on the roads, what they don,t have is the interaction with human behavior that Uber and Left od , "says Susan shaheen,who studies innovation and adoption of new technologies at UC Berkeley's transpiration sustainability Research Center.
Uber's tech may not be as mature as Waymo's-during WIRED's test ride in septembear,an engineer took control every few minutes-but the company knows a lot about test riders want. Beyond having 55 million monthly active riders in nearly 600 cities worldwide, Uber provides robo-car rides in Phoenix and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (California law prohibits Uber's autonomous Volvos in San Francisco From Picking up Passengers.)
If you live in the Phoenix metro area and want to experience the future, you can apply to join the Early Rider program online by answering a few questions about your travel habit. No word yet on how Waymo will select participant, or how many people it plans to enroll, but the company says it will encourage people to ride as often as possible. Anyone making the cut will summon riders in one of Waymo's sensor -clad Lexus SUVs or Chrysler minivans.Don;t worry, a safety driver will keep an eye on everything and step in if necessary. After nearly a decade of works, the company want to make great first impression.
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