Waymo gets the green light to test fully driverless cars in California
Waymo gets the green light to test fully driverless cars
in California
Human-free driving in the Golden State
By Andrew J. Hawkins@andyjayhawk Oct 30, 2018, 5:11pm EDT
Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet,
has been granted permission to operate fully driverless cars without human
drivers behind the steering wheel on public roads in California. The company is
the first to receive a driverless permit in the state.
Waymo will restrict its driverless test cars to the
neighborhoods of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo
Alto. “We know this area well,” the company said in a statement, noting it
includes its own headquarters (housed within Google’s X lab) as well as
Alphabet’s main campus. If it seeks to expand its testing, Waymo says it will
notify the new communities first and obtain permission from the DMV.
Waymo’s permit includes day and night testing on city
streets, rural roads, and highways with posted speed limits of up to 65 mph.
“Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those
conditions is included in our permit,” the company says. “We will gradually
begin driverless testing on city streets in a limited territory and, over time,
expand the area that we drive in as we gain confidence and experience to
expand.”
Waymo won’t offer rides to the public right off the bat;
the company is close to launching its first commercial taxi service using its
fleet of autonomous minivans in Phoenix, Arizona. “Eventually, we’ll create
opportunities for members of the public to experience this technology, as we’ve
done in Arizona with our early rider program,” Waymo says.
California began accepting applications for fully
driverless testing permits on April 2nd after a rule change opened the door for
companies wishing to test their autonomous vehicles on public roads. Among the
many provisions, the new rules would allow autonomous cars without steering
wheels, foot pedals, mirrors, and human drivers behind the wheel to be tested
on its roads.
“California has been working toward this milestone for
several years, and we will continue to keep the public’s safety in mind as this
technology evolves,” said California DMV director Jean Shiomoto in a statement.
California is an obvious hotbed for autonomous vehicle
testing, so changes made to the state’s rules governing these tests are
followed closely by companies like General Motors, Waymo, and Uber that are
developing fleets of self-driving cars for public use. There are currently 60
companies testing nearly 300 autonomous vehicles that are licensed with the
DMV, officials said.
Driverless testing permit holders must also report any
collisions involving a driverless test vehicle to the DMV within 10 days and
submit an annual report of disengagements. Arizona, which is the only state
that allows Waymo to operate fully driverless vehicles, requires no such
disclosures.
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