Waymo: Robotaxis make more than 100.000 trips per week
The robotaxi company Waymo has reached the next milestone: its vehicles now make more than 100,000 trips with passengers per week, reports heise. The Google sister company only cracked the 50,000 mark in May. After that, the service became available in San Francisco to anyone interested without a waiting list. Waymo is also active in Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Waymo wants to reduce costs for autonomous vehicles
Waymo is also currently working on reducing its costs. The technology for the company’s vehicles is still quite expensive at the moment, but that is set to change soon. The next generation of vehicles and software will only need 13 cameras instead of the previous 29. The number of laser radars that scan the surroundings of the vehicles will be reduced from five to four. The 6th generation of the Waymo system is to be integrated into electric cars of the Zeekr brand from the Chinese company Geely. Waymo is currently driving vehicles converted from the Jaguar iPace model, which is also battery-powered.
Zeekr’s new vehicle is currently being tested with safety drivers at the wheel. Waymo has not yet given any information on when it will land in the commercial fleet. According to Waymo manager Satish Jeyachandran, the two latest generations of the system will be on the road side by side. The company has several hundred Jaguar vehicles in operation.
Company almost unrivaled in robotaxis
Waymo currently has virtually no competition in the robotaxi business. The General Motors subsidiary Cruise has been expanding rapidly, but it stopped its vehicles for several months after an accident in which a pedestrian was dragged several meters by one of the cars in San Francisco. The Cruise cars are only just beginning to return to the streets. The Amazon-owned company Zoox is still working on launching its driverless taxi rides in Las Vegas.
Tesla also plans to present the prototype of a robotaxi in October. However, it could take years before the vehicle hits the road. In addition, many experts are skeptical, as Tesla boss Elon Musk has so far wanted to do without laser radars and only achieve autonomy with cameras.
However, Waymo’s robot taxis are not popular everywhere. There is always controversy surrounding self-driving cars. According to t3n, there were recent complaints about the honking that the vehicles trigger. Up until now, they had a function where they honked when they occupied a parking space. If the robot taxis gather in one place, this can lead to a lot of noise pollution. However, Waymo has now carried out an update that is intended to prevent these honking concerts.
