"Waymo's Bay Area expansion just reached a major milestone. On Wednesday, the robotaxi company connected its San Francisco and Silicon Valley service areas and said it would roll out the freeway access that had previously been only for employees and special guests. The update marks the first time that driverless vehicles will navigate American freeways for paying customers, and it comes alongside the Bay Area service map expansion that basically necessitates freeway driving - a trip from San Francisco to western San Jose takes more than two hours on side streets."
"Co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov, in the company's news release, called autonomous freeway driving a "profound engineering feat - easy to conceive, yet hard to truly master." Most of Waymo's reported collisions have come at very low speeds; the company's vehicles will be closely watched on the region's heavily trafficked freeways, like Highway 101 and Interstate 280. Waymo's other co-CEO, Mawakana, broke down the company's long-term plans in an interview at TechCrunch"
Waymo connected its San Francisco and Silicon Valley service areas and enabled freeway access for paying customers, marking the first commercial use of driverless vehicles on American freeways. The company will also begin freeway driving in Phoenix and Los Angeles and has been testing freeway operations for over a year. Waymo announced pickups and drop-offs at San Jose Mineta International Airport and will send rides onto freeways when routes are "meaningfully faster." Riders can join an access list through the Waymo app. Co-CEOs highlighted the technical difficulty and long-term plans, including trucking and licensing ambitions.
Read at SFGATE
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