Metro Phoenix now has world's largest self-driving car service zone after Waymo expansion
Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service is doubling its coverage area in the Valley, creating the largest contiguous autonomous vehicle service area in the world.
The expansion, which takes effect Thursday, will connect Waymo’s two current coverage areas, a 40-square-mile area around downtown Phoenix and a 50-square-mile area in Chandler. The expansion means the service area now includes nearly all of Tempe and extends into Old Town Scottsdale and parts of Mesa, totaling about 180 square miles. Portions of south and central Phoenix also were added to the coverage area.
So far, the vehicles only provide autonomous rides on freeways to Waymo employees with a specialist present, a company spokesperson said. Employees are providing feedback about freeway travel before the company rolls out freeway trips to the public.
Waymo is also adding a second pickup location at Sky Harbor International Airport, at the 24th Street Sky Train station. The service already had one airport pickup location, at the 44th Street Sky Train station, Waymo’s chief product officer Saswat Panigrahi said Wednesday.
Users can download the Waymo app from the App Store or the Google Play store to use Waymo's service. Waymo is a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
More Waymos going out on metro Phoenix streets
Panigrahi said the company will also increase the number of vehicles on the roads in Phoenix, but declined to specify how many vehicles would be added or how many are currently on Valley streets.
“We are already getting significant ridership in Phoenix,” Panigrahi said. “Demand stayed high post-Super Bowl.”
Panigrahi said the company will increase the number of vehicles, but will distribute them throughout the Valley to keep wait times low for riders.
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Across Waymo’s markets of Phoenix and San Francisco, riders take about 10,000 rides per week, company officials said. However, the company did not provide specific ride numbers for Phoenix.
Panigrahi also announced that Waymo is increasing the number of passengers allowed in a vehicle to four. Waymo previously allowed three people to ride in a vehicle, and riders were allowed to sit in any seat except the driver’s seat.
'Gesture detection,' other technology advances
The company has also improved the cars’ “gesture detection” technology, so the driverless vehicles can better respond to gestures from other drivers.
Panigrahi said Waymo is continuing to work with cities and law enforcement to improve how the vehicles interact with emergency vehicles and in other hazards. Waymo vehicles were observed pulling over and sometimes stalling in the roadway in Phoenix. Company officials said the cars do that when they cannot safely navigate a situation.
Waymo also is investigating what caused a stationary vehicle, a Jaguar I-PACE, to catch fire Tuesday morning while parked inside a warehouse. No one was injured in the fire, and officials said they are working with the Phoenix Fire Department to determine why the vehicle caught fire. It was the first fire a Waymo vehicle has experienced, a company spokesman said.
Reach the reporter at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @CorinaVanek.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Waymo doubles Arizona service area with Tempe, Old Town Scottsdale
