- Waymo cars will now be allowed to hit the freeway in some of its main markets.
- San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix will be first up to bat.
- Waymo has been expanding its services rapidly since the launch of the Tesla Robotaxi service in its backyard.
The future of self-driving just hit the fast lane—literally. Waymo is officially letting its robotaxis hop onto freeways in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, marking the first time that the company’s fully autonomous cars can merge, cruise and exit at highway speeds with the public in the back seat.
In other words: Waymo thinks its autonomous cars can do the most nerve-racking, stress-inducing part of your morning commute.
Photo by: gibblesmash asdf/Unsplash
The rollout is starting slow. Only select trips will be able to use freeways at first, but riders in all three cities will eventually get the chance to zip down highways as part of their routes. The cars will be able to travel up to the posted speed limits, which in some of these areas is up to 65 MPH. CNBC says that Waymo confirmed that its cars will be able to exceed this limit “for safety purposes in extraordinary circumstances.”
Company officials are already working on coordinating efforts with both the Arizona Department of Public Safety and California Highway Patrol to increase safety. Expanded operation protocols are being put in place internally and with both agencies to cope with the expanded operational design domain, as is charging infrastructure for its fleet of battery-powered cars.
Waymo’s co-CEO, Dmitri Dolgov, called it a “profound engineering feat. And to be fair, it really is. Merging onto a freeway with unpredictable drivers, lane-weaving rush-hour commuters and the occasional mattress in the road is about as chaotic as modern driving gets. High-speed driving also becomes incrementally more dangerous, which means that the Alphabet spin-off feels feels comfortable enough with Waymo Driver that it’s ready to give the cars more independence.
From Dolgov:
Achieving fully autonomous freeway operations is a profound engineering feat—easy to conceive, yet hard to truly master. This milestone is a powerful testament to the maturity of our operations and technology. We are proud to begin offering riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix trips that use freeways as we continue to scale the Waymo Driver, always guided by safety.
Or, maybe Waymo feels increasing pressure as Tesla is nipping at its heels in key markets. Since the launch of Tesla Robotaxi, Waymo has expanding more quickly than ever before. This could be the natural evolution of its business, or a response to the launch of Tesla’s rival driverless service in Austin, even if Waymo won’t say that part out loud.
To prove this point, Waymo also took this opportunity to announce that the company says that it’s also expanding its Bay Area coverage to San Jose, which means curbside service at Mineta International Airport.
Even as Waymo starts its victory lap, a few questions remain. Can the company still scale profitably? Can it continue to establish trust with riders (especially as its hiccups are quite public at all scales)? How will it deal with the impending large-scale competition from Tesla?
There’s no denying that its expansion onto the freeways is impressive, even if it seems small. Waymo’s driverless cars have officially graduated from the slow streets to the high-paced busy highways. Now it’s time to step on the gas.
