Waymo has a massive waitlist of San Francisco residents to use ‘Waymo One’. According to the co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, the waiting list in the Bay Area is into the tens of thousands.
Waymo is facing significant barriers to launch their service as there is no regulatory framework for commercial self-driving vehicles on public roads. Thus, the company is limiting their testing grounds to San Francisco and Chandler, Arizona for the time being. While on the freight side, they are limiting testing to Texas.
However, Waymo deployed several test vehicles to New York City to begin mapping the city last month. There is no timeline on when or if Waymo One will arrive in the big apple, according to a report from Futurecar.
The company plans to launch their app-based autonomous ride-sharing service across major US cities but the launch is moving slowly.
However, the service is close to a limited launch in San Francisco as per company sources.
Further to self-driving taxis, Waymo is also developing autonomous freight services. Waymo Via is currently hauling freight using autonomous semi-trucks in Texas.
The company is also testing a small fleet of Class-8 autonomous trucks with UPS in the lone star state.
These trucks would help deliver freight during peak periods like the holiday season.
