Self driving and autonomous vehicle hot spots

Waymo (formerly Google’s self-driving car program) is in more than 25 cities across the country and each city location contributes something unique and valuable for building a driver system that’s capable of fully autonomous driving. Today they are driving more than a hundred thousand miles per week and from a technical perspective, this is a key part of their testing and data collection portfolio.

San Francisco has been great for testing and technology development because of the richness of the environment. It has helped to refine the performance and the capabilities of the driver system when it comes to urban settings like dealing with dense crowds of pedestrians, narrow passages, and other interesting things that urban settings offer. Besides the technical perspective, urban areas like San Francisco offer valuable insights into the product and commercial side of things. In 2022 they started the Trusted Tester program which allows residents of San Francisco to hail an autonomous car. California has been incredibly valuable so over the years as they’ve accumulated more autonomous miles than anyone in the industry.

In Phoenix, Waymo learned to operate a fleet of fully autonomous vehicles 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In Michigan, the winter conditions give useful snow data in dealing with adverse weather. As Waymo continues to expand its footprint, diverse operating environments will be a key part of its goal of moving people through its ride-hailing service and moving goods through its trucking service.