"Waymo is finally ready to hit the highway. Starting today, the company's robotaxis will gradually start to include more highway trips in its routes in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. In addition, Waymo's Bay Area service is extending south to San Jose, including 24/7 curbside access at both terminals of San Jose International Airport - the company's second airport service after Phoenix."
"But after years of testing, including on public highways with employees as well as on closed courses and in virtual simulation, Waymo says it's ready to start offering highway trips to a lot more people. "Freeway driving is one of those things that's very easy to learn, but very hard to master when we're talking about full autonomy without a human driver as a backup," Dmitri Dolgov, co-CEO of Waymo, said in a briefing with reporters. "And at scale. So it took time to do it properly with a strong focus on system safety and reliability.""
Waymo will begin gradually adding more highway trips to robotaxi routes in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The Bay Area service is extending south to San Jose and will provide 24/7 curbside access at both terminals of San Jose International Airport. Historically, Waymo's robotaxis avoided highways and often took longer local-road routes, which affected trip duration. After years of testing on public highways with employees, closed courses, and virtual simulation, Waymo is prepared to expand highway operations to more riders. Company leadership emphasizes safety, reliability, and mastering freeway driving at scale without human backup.
Read at The Verge
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