US start-up Waymo plans to begin testing its fully autonomous vehicles without a human safety driver on highways in the San Francisco area this week, US tech portal TechCrunch reported on Monday.
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Smartphone deal: Motorola Moto G34 5G in the test – 120 Hz for 100 euros“The company’s employees will be the first guinea pigs,” it said. In the report. So the first tests will begin with “less than a handful” of vehicles outside of peak hours. The move comes as Waymo, armed with an additional $5 billion investment from parent company Alphabet, is pushing to expand its robotaxi operation in San Francisco. Just last week, Waymo added another 25 square kilometers to its robotaxi service area to include cities surrounding the California metropolis.
Traffic violations and investigations
Waymo operates a 24-hour robotaxi service in San Francisco, California. However, there has been tension over autonomous vehicles there for some time. These were approved by the responsible federal authority despite resistance from city officials. In January, San Francisco filed a lawsuit against the state agency that granted the approval.
In early February, a Waymo vehicle hit a cyclist, who suffered minor injuries. A few days later, the confrontation reached a new level: a crowd damaged and set fire to an empty Waymo robot taxi in the middle of a busy street in San Francisco.
Investigation against Waymo
Waymo’s application to expand robotaxi operations in the Los Angeles and San Mateo districts of the US state of California was initially blocked by regulatory authorities – perhaps also under the influence of the events described. In March, the Alphabet subsidiary received approval, including permission to charge a fee for autonomous driving on the highway.
But reports of accidents and breakdowns did not stop even after that. Several incidents involving autonomous driving of Waymo cars on the road led to an official investigation in May. It was expanded shortly after. The cause was recent traffic safety violations, such as driving in the lane of oncoming traffic, collisions with parked cars and other stationary objects, driving in unpaved construction site areas, and disregard for traffic rules. After one of the accidents, the company launched a voluntary recall campaign in mid-June. The recall affects the software of the automated driving system (ADS).
(AKN)
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