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Transportation Technology

Waymo Opens Driverless Robotaxi Service To San Francisco Employees (techcrunch.com) 19

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving unit, has begun offering its San Francisco employees fully autonomous rides, the company said Wednesday. From a report: Waymo will begin its rider-only operations within its "initial San Francisco service territory," which spans from the Presidio to the farthest corner of Candlestick Point, and gradually ramp up from there. The news comes nearly a month after Waymo said it would soon begin charging Bay Area residents for robotaxi rides with a human operator on board after securing a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). It also follows the kick-off of Waymo's Trusted Tester program back in August, which involved San Franciscans signing up to hail one of Waymo's all-electric Jaguar I-Paces equipped with the Waymo Driver -- again, with a human operator onboard -- for free.
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Waymo Opens Driverless Robotaxi Service To San Francisco Employees More

Waymo Opens Driverless Robotaxi Service To San Francisco Employees

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  • I need ammunition. Not a ride.

    • I think the story is that if you are an employee you will have full autonomous rides with no human driver. Human oversight still in place for general taxi service though.

      I think, the story could do with being a bit more clear.

    • It says "fully autonomous" and later "rider-only". The intention of the terms seem that there is no "driver" but it's not exact statement.

  • it seems a way to collect real world based data. on where people actually need to go, and not just what Waymo thinks people will go.

    When I write a piece of software, I try not to be involved in the testing of my software. Because my presence will influence the testers to do things my way, which I has already coded for and tested myself to do. Where if I am left out, they do things their own way and sometimes can find rather quickly a way to do something that I never thought of doing.

    A long time back, I nee

  • Employee or not, they are offering transportation and as such are liable for the expected service, no matter what any written statement they may require the riders to sign. And there are rules of what they can or cannot do to avoid denial of insurance, which they must have?

    So it appears they got approved for driverless transportation service then?
    Perhaps they make the riders part of the "testing' somehow?

    • riders will be liable both civil & criminal by EULA.
      And that may be that criminal = yes you can get an DUI in this. As phone app = in control and in control = DUI.
      not only that moving violations may go the driver.
      don't have an drivers license well that As phone app = in control and in control = driving without an license.

      get into an really bad crash that is an criminal case well you need to get an good criminal lawyer or get good at not dropping the soap.

  • What happens when blue lights start flashing behind?

    • will it stop for an fake / rent a cop?

    • Last year, Waymo became the first AV maker to publish a law enforcement interaction protocol. If one of its self-driving cars detects police behind it with lights flashing, the document says, it's "designed to pull over and stop when it finds a safe place to do so."

      Jeff West, a battalion chief with the Chandler Fire Department, says the Waymo vehicles he's seen on the road have been quicker to move out of the way than many human-driven cars. "Once it recognizes us, it pulls over," he says, "versus someone

      • That is great, but I meant actually being stopped for traffic violation. This is not planned for as it's going to be a perfect "auto" right?

        • Do you mean how does a ticket get issued? Thousands of speeding and red light tickets are issued every day by sending them to the address registered with the license plate, with no police interaction with the driver.

          Also there are remote operators who can step in an intervene with the vehicles, so the police could talk to them I suppose:

          https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfD... [reddit.com]

  • LOL (Score:2)

    by DrXym ( 126579 )
    Dear Waymo employees, I hope you have a good life insurance policy. If in doubt, carefully monitor your first (and hopefully not terminal) ride in your automated vehicle and note all the crap that it ignores or gets wrong during your journey.

  • I'll pass on dodging confused waymo cars that stop for no reason, randomly slow to a crawl, etc.

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