Waymo has secured a Driverless Pilot permit from the state of California. This brings the company one step further to launching its autonomous taxi service in the state.
The company is now planning to expand as it prepares to begin testing driverless cars in Los Angeles. It has been reported that this will mark the first time that fully autonomous vehicles will roam the street in LA. This comes after successful tests in San Francisco.
Although this is a huge step forward for the company, the LA test will follow similar steps of the San Francisco trial. A limited number of vehicles will be available to riders in the Waymo Research Truster program.
Waymo hasn’t said when the driverless taxi service will be available to customers in Los Angeles as it will have to clear legal hurdles to get mass adoption.
Waymo’s paid taxi service will remain exclusive to Phoenix AZ. As of today, GM’s Cruise robotaxi service is the only company permitted to charge for driverless rides in the state, so long as those rides take place during daylight hours.
Waymo has not announced when the test will begin but has said that their 5th-generation Jaguar I-Pace cars will start rider-only testing in Santa Monica, and only outside rush hour.
