Uber expands Waymo robotaxi service to Austin, Texas
Uber has confirmed that UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric riders in the city will have the chance to match with autonomous vehicles for their journey. Specifically with an all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicle. If they prefer, they will also have the ability to select a human driver before a driverless car is sent to their location.
As with other Waymo cars in Uber’s network, passengers will simply be able to unlock the vehicle and start the trip using the Uber app – as well as access customer support. New preference settings will also give customers the option of increasing their chances of hitching a Waymo ride over traditional vehicles.
In a press release, Uber said: “At launch, riders can travel across 37 square miles of Austin – from Hyde Park, to Downtown, to Montopolis – with plans to expand in the future.” They have not yet confirmed the exact number of Waymo vehicles that will be made available.
Speaking to Forbes, Waymo’s head of business development and partnerships Nicole Gavel explained that Uber will have exclusive rights to its vehicles in the city. Unlike in other cities where Waymo operates, Uber will handle ride-booking and maintenance for the Alphabet subsidiary’s Austin fleet, with Gavel adding that “Uber is responsible for the fleet operations. This includes charging infrastructure, infrastructure operations at the depot, maintaining vehicles from a service perspective, tire maintenance, all of that good stuff.”
Currently operational in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, Waymo has said it provides more than 200,000 paid rides per week across the three cities. The company says it plans to expand the partnership to Atlanta, Georgia next, and will conduct manual tests in San Diego and Las Vegas.
The service could soon face some stiff competition, with Tesla planning to launch its own robotaxi service in June. However, Tesla has not yet proven that it is capable of offering a fully driverless service on public roads. The carmaker did show a video of a self-driving vehicle. However, unlike in the video in the Tesla factory, it is currently only permitted on public roads in the US as a supervised variant with a safety driver on board and not at all in Europe. Supervised means that the driver must continue to pay attention to the road while the car drives automatically.
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