Elon Musk has set a new deadline of August 8, 2024, to introduce Tesla’s robotaxi. Meanwhile, Waymo has already rolled out autonomous taxis for public use in Phoenix, Arizona, and San Francisco, with new services planned for Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. In Phoenix, Waymo’s robotaxis are also being used for food delivery.
Waymo became the first company to offer service to the public without safety drivers in the vehicle.
Key Milestones
2009: Launch of the Google Self-Driving Car Project as part of Google X Lab, aimed at developing self-driving cars.
2015: First fully autonomous ride on public roads.
2016: The project was renamed Waymo and spun off from Google into a separate business under Alphabet Inc.
2018: Launch of Waymo One, a commercial robotaxi service in the Phoenix area.
2020: Start of autonomous rides in Phoenix for the general public.
2023: First fully autonomous rides in Los Angeles.
2024: Waymo opens its robotaxi service to anyone in San Francisco who downloads the app.
San Francisco is near the top of the density list in terms of pedestrians, cyclists, electric bikes, scooters, the hills, and the fog. We developed the technology capable of handling one of the hardest cities in North America.
Chris Ludwick, Waymo product director
This means that nearly one million residents and visitors in San Francisco will have access to autonomous taxis.
📱 Difference from Tesla
While Tesla's cars use only cameras for navigation, Waymo's taxis receive data from cameras, radar, and laser sensors. Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs make up the fleet. San Francisco already has 250 of these cars on the road. In total, Waymo makes at least 50,000 calls a week.
Are you ready to take a self-driving taxi?
❤️ — yes!
🙈 — no, scared.
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