San Francisco robotaxis get the green light to operate 24/7

Google's Waymo and General Motors' Cruise have both received the green light from California's regulatory body to implement 24/7 fare-based services for fully driverless rides in San Francisco.

The pivotal decision was made by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which voted 3 to 1 in favour of granting the expansion of driverless services for the two tech giants. The CPUC says it meticulously evaluated the companies' adherence to licensing requisites and considered...

11 August 2023 | Connected Vehicles

Waymo announces Austin as its fourth major city

Waymo, the self-driving technology company under Google’s parent company Alphabet, has officially announced Austin as its fourth major ride-hail city.

Austin will be joining the ranks of Metro Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles as Waymo continues to expand and accelerate its business.

Over the past few months, Waymo's team has been conducting extensive testing in and around downtown Austin, utilising their all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles.

The goal of...

4 August 2023 | Connected Vehicles

Waymo’s vehicles are confused by San Francisco’s fog

The latest challenge that autonomous vehicles are struggling with is driving in fog.

Five of Waymo's fully driverless vehicles had to pull over by the side of a residential street in San Francisco on Tuesday when they encountered the city’s notoriously dense fog.

The incident caused significant traffic issues, as motorists were unable to pass the parked vehicles.

In a blog post a couple of years ago, Waymo highlighted the difficulties that fog...

13 April 2023 | AI

San Francisco officials want the CPUC to slow robotaxi authorisations

San Francisco officials have sent letters to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) expressing their concerns over the pace of robotaxi deployments.

Driverless vehicle giants Cruise and Waymo have significant expansion plans for their respective operations in San Francisco. However, their existing deployments have been causing some problems for the city.

Some of the reported issues have included driverless vehicles stopping in the middle of the road for no...

31 January 2023 | Connected Vehicles

Waymo launches 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service in San Francisco

Alphabet subsidiary Waymo has launched San Francisco’s first 24/7 fully-autonomous ride-hailing service.

Earlier this month, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) granted Waymo a permit to participate in the state’s pilot initiative to provide “driverless” autonomous vehicle (AV) passenger service to the public.

“We are seeing momentum build in this space and are working to assure the safe expansion of the driverless pilot program,” said CPUC...

21 November 2022 | AI

Waymo and Cruise can now offer autonomous vehicle rides to the public

Autonomous Vehicle

Waymo and Cruise have both received approval to offer autonomous vehicle rides to the public by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Whilst a major step in the push towards autonomous vehicles, both companies will only be allowed to operate in certain parts of the state and under specific conditions.

All that remains is to secure a deployment permit from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and both companies will be able to offer paid...

1 October 2021 | Connected Vehicles

Ex-Google engineer sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing autonomous car secrets

Former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing autonomous car secrets.

Levandowski was employed by Google’s self-driving car division Waymo when he transferred over 14,000 secret files to his laptop before leaving the company.

The stolen files were taken to Uber, where Levandowski led the firm’s own robotaxi project. US District Judge William Alsup called Levandowski’s actions the "biggest trade secret crime I have...

5 August 2020 | Connected Vehicles

Waymo and Volvo establish partnership to build electric robotaxis

Waymo has formed a partnership with automotive giant Volvo to build electric robotaxis.

The companies announced the "exclusive" collaboration on Thursday which will see Waymo's self-driving software being integrated with an electric vehicle by Volvo designed for taxi purposes.

"Through our strategic partnership, we will first work together to integrate the Waymo Driver into an all-new mobility-focused electric vehicle platform for ride hailing services," the companies...

26 June 2020 | AI

Waymo will resume self-driving van trials in the Bay Area on June 18th

Waymo has said it will resume trials of self-driving vans in the Bay Area on June 18th.

The company was forced to suspend its autonomous vehicle trials in mid-March following a “shelter-in-place” order issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Back in March, we decided to suspend our driving operations in response to COVID-19 to ensure the safety of everyone involved in our services and local communities,” a Waymo spokesperson said in a...

1 June 2020 | AI