Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • ZME & more
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
Home Future

Self-driving robo-taxis can now pick you up at the airport

Well, at some airports at least.

by Mihai Andrei
December 19, 2022
in Future, News
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

As of now, travelers who arrive at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona can take an unorthodox way downtown. Waymo, a self-driving car company, has now launched a fleet of fully autonomous, driverless cars that can pick up passengers and take them to their destinations. The move is particularly significant because navigating a crowded airport environment is not an easy feat for a self-driving car, and it shows that robo-taxis may already be capable of stepping into the real world.

Image credits: Waymo.

Driverless cars are here

Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet (the company behind Google) has been accelerating its public rollout this year. In May, the company launched a tester program for residents in downtown Phoenix that seemed to have received good feedback, prompting the company to expand the program to parts of Washington and Los Angeles.

But the airport service was a bit unexpected given how fast approval was received. It took 3 years to get from testing rides to actual driverless rides in Chandler, Arizona — and one year in San Francisco. Meanwhile, in Phoenix, this happened in less than 6 months.

“No waitlist, no NDAs, no hours restriction, 24/7 service,” said Waymo product chief Saswat Panigrahi in a briefing with reporters.

“Our progress in two of the most popular ride-hailing cities in the country is accelerating,” Panigrahi noted in a press release. “As we add more neighborhoods and vehicles to our service in San Francisco and Phoenix, we’re excited to bring the safety and mobility benefits of round-the-clock autonomy to more people in more places.”

In addition, Waymo will also double its coverage area. Waymo is able to drive fully autonomously across all of San Francisco, 24/7. Reportedly, there’s already a big waitlist for clients applying to use Waymo (the service is open to “select members of the public” who have to apply to use it), and the service in Phoenix ha more than doubled, to 41.2 square miles

Waymo’s service in San Francisco. Image credits: Waymo.

The new service is the world’s only fully autonomous airport robo-taxi service, although, in China, some robo-taxi services are already available to the public in large cities.

No doubt, we’re on the precipice of a revolution in driverless cars. After being touted for so long as an up-and-coming technology, they seem to be finally ready to be deployed, although many challenges still remain — and there’s still no large-scale, transparent data, on how safe and efficient the technology actually is. This is why the airport service could be very impactful, as it could show whether driverless cars are able to manage a tough environment like an airport.

Meanwhile, Waymo has applied for the final permit required to operate its autonomous taxis in the state of California. It may not be long before we see driverless cars taking off. Not literally though, that will probably take a bit more time.

Tags: carsdriverless cars

ShareTweetShare
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • ZME & more

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • ZME & more
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.