Waymo is bringing its robotaxis chicago And charlotte The company said Wednesday as part of its effort to continue expanding autonomous vehicles.
Starting today, Waymo will begin manual mapping and initial data collection to lay the groundwork for operations in those cities. Waymo typically enters a new city by conducting months of manual driving and mapping to understand local road conditions, traffic patterns and edge cases before gradually beginning autonomous testing and eventually fully driverless operations.
While Charlotte – with its suburban-style layout and mild weather – might be an easy use case, Chicago’s harsh winters, heavy traffic and dense urban complexity will be a challenge for Waymo. Successfully operating there would strengthen Waymo’s claim that its system is scalable nationally. It also gives Waymo another chance in a northern city after New York dropped an offer This would have allowed commercial robotaxi pilots in some parts of the state.
The news comes the same week that Waymo began offering commercial driverless operations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. Bringing its total city count to 10.
In addition to Chicago and Charlotte, Waymo is also testing and planning to launch in Denver, London, and Washington, DC, among other cities. The Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company earlier this month earned 16 billion dollars In funding to expand internationally.
