Waymo announced on Tuesday that it will commence autonomous passenger services for its employees in Austin, Texas, starting Wednesday. The services will cover 43 square miles of the city, including downtown Austin, Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin, and Hyde Park.
The company plans to extend its ride-hailing program, Waymo One, to the public in Austin at a later date. This move will make Austin the fourth city to offer Waymo One, following San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.
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“Our disciplined deployment in Texas’ capital brings us one step closer to safely delivering the benefits of fully autonomous driving to many more people,” stated Waymo product chief Saswat Panigrahi.
Waymo recently received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to launch its completely autonomous robotaxi services in Los Angeles and some cities near San Francisco.
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However, both Waymo and its competitor, General Motors’ Cruise, have encountered challenges and hostility towards their self-driving services following collisions with the public.
In February, a Waymo robotaxi was attacked and set on fire during Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco’s Chinatown. This incident followed another where a Waymo vehicle struck a bicyclist at an intersection in the city.
