Waymo Finally Gets the Go-Ahead to Go Humanless in California
By: Sierra Heuvelman
Waymo, an autonomous vehicle (AV) development company, recently reached an impressive milestone in the realm of autonomous vehicles — they received approval to start testing their self-driving cars in California without a human backup in the driver’s seat. While AV companies have been testing self-driving cars in California for years, this will be the first time the test cars will not have a person in the driver’s seat that can take over if the car malfunctions.
Waymo now has a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles that gives them permission to start testing 36 (for now) level 5 AVs in the southern Bay Area, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto. These cars are only allowed to travel up to 65 mph and will be monitored from afar by Waymo employees.
Successfully testing their driverless cars on public roads will increase trust and interest in their cars and the company itself. As a result, this permit represents a huge step in the right direction for Waymo, who has plans to initiate a robotaxi (driveless taxi) service in California by the end of the year. For now, however, Waymo will only be transporting their own employees during this vital phase of testing.
