“We expect our new fully driverless service to be very popular, and we’re thankful to our riders for their patience as we ramp up availability to serve demand. Later this year, after we’ve finished adding in-vehicle barriers between the front row and the rear passenger cabin for in-vehicle hygiene and safety, we’ll also be re-introducing rides with a trained vehicle operator, which will add capacity and allow us to serve a larger geographical area,” said Krafcik in a blog post.
He added, “We’ve achieved this milestone with the thought and care that our riders expect from us. We’ve enhanced our health and safety policies and procedures throughout our fully-owned fleet, sought the feedback of our team, partners, riders, as well as federal, local, and state authorities, all while continuing to advance the Waymo Driver’s capabilities.”
The competition is red-hot in driverless vehicles. GM Cruise, Ford’s Argo AI, Tesla, and Google’s China-based Baidu are all big players in the autonomous car space. Lyft and Uber are both pioneering driverless Robo-taxi and delivery vehicles.