Waymo, Autonomous Ride-hailing Service, Set to Come to Philly
Waymo, The Autonomous Ride-hailing Service, Set to Come to Philly
Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing service owned by Alphabet (Google’s parent company), has officially announced its expansion to Philadelphia.
Waymo began its journey in Philadelphia earlier this year with manual testing of its signature white Jaguar i-Pace EVs. Over the summer, the company transitioned to autonomous testing with a safety specialist on board. While the exact launch date for public ride-hailing services remains unconfirmed, Waymo is actively working with Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to secure the necessary permits for fully driverless operations.
Ethan Teicher, a Waymo spokesperson, emphasized the company’s deliberate and methodical approach to expansion. Drawing on its experience in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, Waymo is confident in its ability to navigate Philadelphia’s unique traffic conditions. The company has already logged over 100 million fully autonomous miles across its operational cities, making it a leader in the self-driving industry.
Philadelphia presents both opportunities and challenges for Waymo. The city’s complex traffic patterns require advanced technological adaptations. Local skepticism about self-driving cars and concerns about job displacement in the transportation sector also add layers of complexity to the rollout.
Despite these challenges, Waymo’s expansion is seen as a pivotal moment for the future of transportation in Philadelphia.
For now, the company will work on getting permission from PennDOT to have fully self-driving cars with no human drivers. Then, people in Philadelphia will be able to request rides, company spokesperson Ethan Teicher said. He said he cannot say how long that will take.
“In every city, it is a methodical, deliberate process. And Philadelphia will be no different,” Teicher said. “When we brought vehicles to the city earlier this year, it was part of a road trip to see both how the technology performed in the city and to get started on exploring if Philadelphia was a city where we could operate.”
Waymo’s expansion to Philadelphia is part of a larger strategy to bring autonomous ride-hailing services to cities across the U.S. and internationally. The company is also eyeing markets in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., as well as global cities like London and Tokyo.
READ MORE:
RELATED: [VIDEO] Undefeated MMA Fighter Gets Carjacked in Philly While Delivering Uber Eats
RELATED: Pennsylvania Police Warn About New Car Theft Trend: Key Fob Cloning
RELATED: Philadelphia Police Take Action To Stop High-Tech Car Thefts
Waymo, The Autonomous Ride-hailing Service, Set to Come to Philly was originally published on rnbphilly.com
