Articles tagged with "Waymo"
Waymo has set its robotaxi sights on NYC
Waymo has applied for a permit with the New York City Department of Transportation to test its autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in Manhattan, marking its initial step toward introducing robotaxis in the city. The permit application aligns with New York’s stringent autonomous vehicle regulations, which require a human safety operator behind the wheel, a $5 million insurance policy, and thorough operator training. While obtaining this permit is significant, Waymo is still far from launching commercial or fully driverless operations in NYC due to current legal restrictions that mandate a human must be physically present and able to control the vehicle. To advance its goals, Waymo is actively advocating for changes in state law that would permit driverless vehicle operation without a human behind the wheel. The company is also building partnerships with local organizations such as MADD NY, YAI, the National Federation of the Blind, and Bronx Community College to foster goodwill and support. Despite previous attempts by other companies to test autonomous vehicles in NYC, none progressed beyond limited demonstrations. Way
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymorobotaxiself-driving-carsurban-mobilitytransportation-technologyWaymo Robotaxi Stops for Kids Chasing Dogs Chasing Ball into Street - CleanTechnica
The article highlights a notable incident involving a Waymo robotaxi in California, which safely stopped to avoid hitting two small dogs chasing a ball into the street, followed by children chasing the dogs. Despite poor visibility and visual obstructions from parked vehicles, the autonomous vehicle detected the dogs early and braked suddenly, demonstrating impressive situational awareness and reaction capabilities. The author emphasizes that such a response might not be guaranteed from a human driver or other self-driving systems, underscoring Waymo’s advanced safety features. Additionally, the article praises Waymo’s visualization technology, which clearly displays detailed silhouettes of pedestrians and animals, providing transparency into what the vehicle’s sensors detect. Dmitri Dolgov, Waymo’s co-CEO, shared an alternative view of the incident, reflecting the company’s pride in their system’s safety performance. Overall, the event serves as a strong example of Waymo’s progress in developing autonomous vehicles that prioritize safety and can handle complex, real-world scenarios effectively.
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymoself-driving-carsroboticsAI-vision-systemstransportation-technologyWaymo Grows Again - CleanTechnica
Waymo is significantly expanding its robotaxi services across California, extending coverage in the Bay Area to cities like South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, Brisbane, and Menlo Park, with further expansion planned in the Los Angeles metro area including Silverlake, Inglewood, and Downtown LA. This expansion marks a substantial growth in Waymo’s service footprint, suggesting the company is poised to increase ride volumes considerably. Additionally, Waymo is preparing to launch its robotaxi service in Atlanta this summer in partnership with Uber, further broadening its national presence. Beyond California, Waymo is actively testing and demonstrating its autonomous driving technology across the U.S., with recent stops in cities such as San Antonio, Houston, and Orlando as part of its 2025 road trip initiative. The company’s rapid growth contrasts with earlier slower progress and raises questions about the potential for exponential scaling of robotaxi services. The article also briefly touches on Tesla’s delayed robotaxi launch in Austin,
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymorobotaxitransportation-technologyself-driving-carsmobility-innovationWaymo robotaxis are pushing into even more California cities
Waymo is significantly expanding its robotaxi service area across California, adding 80 square miles in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Silicon Valley. This growth brings the total commercial service area to over 250 square miles, introducing driverless Jaguar I-Pace vehicles to new neighborhoods in three major metro regions. Despite recent setbacks—including vandalism and arson of Waymo vehicles during immigration-related protests in Los Angeles, which led to temporary service reductions—the company continues to push forward with its expansion plans. Waymo is still limiting service in some parts of Los Angeles, such as downtown, but plans to monitor conditions and gradually restore full operations. The expansion includes new service availability in Bay Area communities like Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, and Silicon Valley towns Palo Alto and Menlo Park. In Los Angeles, the service now covers Playa del Rey, Ladera Heights, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and the full stretch of Sunset Boulevard, connecting
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymorobotaxisdriverless-technologyurban-mobilitytransportation-innovationNew Insights for Scaling Laws in Autonomous Driving - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica discusses Waymo’s recent research into applying scaling laws—well-established in large language models (LLMs)—to autonomous driving, specifically in motion forecasting and planning. Waymo’s study leveraged an extensive internal dataset of 500,000 hours of driving, much larger than prior AV datasets, to investigate how increasing model size, training data, and compute resources impact AV performance. The findings reveal that, similar to LLMs, motion forecasting quality improves predictably following a power-law relationship with training compute. Additionally, scaling data and inference compute enhances the model’s ability to handle complex driving scenarios, and closed-loop planning performance also benefits from increased scale. These results mark a significant advancement by demonstrating for the first time that real-world autonomous vehicle capabilities can be systematically improved through scaling, providing a predictable path to better performance. This predictability applies not only to model training objectives and open-loop forecasting metrics but also to closed-loop planning in simulations, which more closely reflect real driving conditions.
robotautonomous-vehiclesAImotion-forecastingscaling-lawsdeep-learningWaymoWaymo Discusses How It Knows When Robotaxis Are Safe To Deploy - CleanTechnica
Waymo, a leader in autonomous vehicle technology, has shared detailed insights into how it determines when its robotaxis are safe to deploy. With decades of testing and years of operating self-driving taxis, Waymo emphasizes that safety readiness involves a rigorous, evidence-based process applied not only when launching in new areas but also when introducing software updates or new vehicle platforms. The company uses twelve specific acceptance criteria to assess whether its Waymo Driver system meets safety requirements, mitigates known risks, and performs reliably in various environments. This multi-faceted approach combines qualitative and quantitative data to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of residual risk before deployment. Waymo highlights its transparency by publicly disclosing these criteria and its governance framework, which includes oversight by a Safety Framework Steering Committee and Safety Board to maintain accountability and manage risks in evolving conditions. The company aims to set an industry standard for operationalizing the concept of “absence of unreasonable risk,” addressing the current lack of consensus on deployment readiness in the autonomous vehicle sector. By sharing its methodology
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymoself-driving-carsrobotaxi-safetyAI-in-transportationautonomous-driving-technologyWaymo limits service ahead of today’s ‘No Kings’ protests
Waymo, the Alphabet-owned robotaxi company, is limiting its service on June 14, 2025, ahead of the nationwide “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump and his policies. Service reductions are reported in San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, and Phoenix, with a complete suspension in Los Angeles. The duration of these service limitations remains unclear. This precaution follows recent protests in Los Angeles where Waymo vehicles were vandalized with anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) graffiti, likely due to perceptions of the vehicles as surveillance tools, similar to how police departments have used them. Waymo has stated that it challenges any requests for data or cooperation that it views as overly broad or lacking legal justification. The company’s cautious approach reflects concerns about civil unrest and the potential targeting of its autonomous vehicles during politically charged demonstrations. The San Francisco Chronicle noted that during periods of civil unrest, authorities may avoid aggressive intervention unless property is directly threatened, highlighting the tense environment surrounding these protests.
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymorobotaxitransportation-technologyself-driving-carsAI-roboticsA Waymo Costs More, But People Love It - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica examines pricing and consumer preferences among app-based taxi services in San Francisco, focusing on Waymo, Uber, and Lyft. Data collected by the app Obi from March 25 to April 25 reveals that Waymo’s autonomous rides are consistently more expensive—about $9.50 to $11 more during peak demand—compared to UberX and Lyft. Despite the higher cost, Waymo maintains strong customer interest, with many riders willing to pay a premium for the novelty and technology of driverless cars. Obi’s survey found that 70% of Waymo users prefer driverless vehicles over human-driven ones, and roughly 43% of respondents indicated they would pay more to ride in a Waymo. The article also highlights operational differences influencing pricing. Uber and Lyft benefit from dynamic pricing models refined over years and a flexible driver-owned vehicle fleet that adjusts supply during high-demand periods, helping to moderate costs. In contrast, Waymo operates a fixed fleet of autonomous vehicles and
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymodriverless-carstransportation-technologyride-hailingmobility-innovationWaymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft — and people are paying anyway
The article examines the pricing dynamics of Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service compared to traditional options like Uber and Lyft, based on a month-long data analysis in San Francisco by the app Obi. Contrary to the expectation that robotaxis would be cheaper due to lower labor costs, Waymo rides were found to be consistently more expensive, averaging $20.43 per ride compared to Lyft’s $14.44 and Uber’s $15.58. During peak hours, Waymo’s prices were about $9.50 to $11 higher than its competitors. Despite the higher cost, consumer demand remains strong, driven by excitement for the technology and a preference for driverless vehicles. The pricing variability of Waymo rides was also greater than Uber or Lyft, attributed to Waymo’s less sophisticated pricing model and a relatively fixed vehicle supply, resulting in a more direct supply-and-demand pricing approach. This model causes short trips to be disproportionately expensive—Waymo’s short rides cost roughly 31-41% more
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymoride-hailingtransportation-technologyself-driving-carsmobility-servicesWaymo robotaxis, Lime e-scooters set ablaze during LA protests
During protests in downtown Los Angeles sparked by immigration raids conducted by the Trump administration, several Waymo autonomous vehicles and Lime e-scooters were vandalized and set on fire. On Sunday evening, a group of protesters attacked five Waymo robotaxis, slashing tires, breaking windows, spray-painting anti-ICE slogans, and setting three cars ablaze. Some Lime e-scooters were also thrown into the burning vehicles. The LAPD warned that burning lithium-ion batteries from these devices release toxic gases, posing health risks to bystanders. The motivation behind targeting Waymo vehicles remains unclear, though police have previously used footage from robotaxis in investigations. The protests began on June 6 in response to aggressive ICE raids that resulted in over 100 immigrant arrests. Demonstrations, both peaceful and violent, spread across Los Angeles and nearby areas, including freeway blockades. In reaction, President Trump federalized the California National Guard and deployed troops to the city, a move opposed by state officials such as Governor Gavin Newsom, who called for their removal. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth indicated readiness to deploy Marines if violence escalates. The article also briefly notes that Waymo and Lime did not comment on the incidents, and that similar protests involving Waymo vehicles occurred previously in San Francisco.
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymoe-scooterslithium-ion-batterieselectric-mobilityurban-protestsAmazon’s Zoox to start testing AVs in Atlanta, following Waymo
robotautonomous-vehiclesself-driving-technologyrobotaxiZooxWaymotransportation-technologyWaymo gets OK to expand robotaxi service into more of Silicon Valley
robotrobotaxiautonomous-vehiclesWaymotransportationSilicon-Valleyride-hailingWaymo and Uber are giving some riders early access to Atlanta robotaxi service
robotrobotaxiautonomous-vehiclesWaymoUbertransportationmobilityThe Huge Waymo Recall That Wasn’t
robotWaymoautomated-drivingsoftware-updaterobotaxiself-driving-vehiclestransportationWaymo updates 1,200+ robotaxis in software recall
robotrobotaxiautonomous-vehiclesWaymoself-driving-technologyvehicle-safetytransportation-technologyWaymo recalls 1,200 robotaxis following low-speed collisions with gates and chains
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymorobotaxissoftware-updatetransportationsafetyWaymo robotaxis to map Boston
robotWaymorobotaxiautonomous-drivingurban-mobilitytransportationtechnologyWaymo Scaling Up With US Manufacturing, Uber
robotautonomous-vehiclesWaymomanufacturingrobotaxiAI-technologytransportationWaymo Robotaxis Are Much Safer — Part Deux
robotWaymorobotaxisautonomous-vehiclestraffic-safetycrash-reductionpedestrian-safetyWaymo ramps up robotaxi production at new Arizona factory
robotrobotaxiautonomous-vehiclesWaymoelectric-vehiclesmanufacturingself-driving-technologyThe One Big Robotaxi Benefit — Safe Driving
robotrobotaxiautonomous-vehiclessafetytransportationWaymodriver-assistanceToyota, Waymo consider joint development of self-driving passenger vehicles
robotself-drivingautonomous-vehiclesWaymoToyotamobility-technologytransportationWaymo & Toyota May Collaborate On Autonomous Cars
WaymoToyotaautonomous-vehiclesride-hailingcollaborationclean-technologyself-driving-carsWaymo and Toyota are dating. If they get serious, a new autonomous vehicle could be created.
WaymoToyotaautonomous-vehiclesself-driving-carstechnology-partnershipsautomotive-innovationfuture-mobilityWaymo’s Not-So-Secret Weapon for Rapid Growth
Waymoautonomous-vehiclestechnologytransportationgrowth-strategyclean-technologymarket-share