Waymo, the Alphabet-owned company, has announced a milestone in its autonomous mobility services. The company’s robotaxis are now serving more than 50,000 paid trips every week across three major cities – Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Operating 24/7 in parts of these cities, Waymo One is averaging 300 bookings every hour, or five bookings every minute.
The company has also revealed that it has had over one million rider-only trips across four cities, including Austin, where it’s currently offering limited rides to select members of the public. Waymo credits its “safe and deliberate approach” to scaling its program for reaching this milestone, stating that fully autonomous ride-hailing is a reality and a preferred mobility option for people navigating their cities every day.
The journey has not been without its challenges. Earlier this year, two Waymo vehicles crashed into the same pickup truck one after the other, due to their software incorrectly predicting the future movements of the truck. The company issued a software recall after the incident to fix the issue and prevent similar incidents from happening.
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