Waymo launches a running test of an automated driving car targeting the first citizen of the world to recruit participants

Waymo, an automatic driving car development company under the control of Alphabet independently of Google, will start an automatic driving test service for general citizens in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Until now, only employees of the company or contract developers could get on the automatic driving car, and there was almost no opportunity for ordinary people to touch, but once the clear procedure and the examination are cleared up, It is entering the stage where you can get a "ride experience" of. Please note that it is unnecessary to pay the trial fee, royalty fee etc as it is a test service.

Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-25/alphabet-s-self-driving-cars-to-get-their-first-real-riders

This test service, named Waymo's "early rider program", begins for residents aged 18 and older living in Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler districts located in Phoenix, the state capital of Arizona and its suburbs . Applicants will enter the postal code from Waymo's site and apply for it, after being reviewed and registered, you will be able to use the service.


There are two kinds of vehicles used for testing, one is a hybrid minivan "Pacifica hybrid" made by Chrysler. Waymo, in partnership with Chrysler in 2016, had 100 Pacifica / Hybrids incorporating proprietary software and hardware, but with this service it is supposed to increase 500 vehicles.


And the other one is a hybrid SUV "RX 450h" of Lexus which was remodeled also for automatic driving here. Waymo is known as a vehicle that has been in use since it was a project within Google.

ByEd and Eddie

By opening the door to the general public, Waymo aims to acquire more data by expanding the types of scenes in which automatic driving cars are used. Waymo's CEO John Krafsik said, "We are now at a critical point to not only know how to use this technology in Google but also in real people.We are aiming for everyone in the citizen Is to use our car for every move. "

Regarding automated driving cars, in addition to Tesla releasing the "auto pilot" function, there are situations where global automakers such as Toyota, Volvo, Ford and Mercedes Benz are accelerating development. Also, Uber, a car dispatch service, assumes that company trade secrets on automatic driving technology were taken over by former employeesAppealed from WaymoIt is also evolving to the situation.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley Securities point out that this move will be "to compensate for the disadvantage that Alphabet is located". Mileage and large data are indispensable for the development of automatic driving technology, and better technology is produced by analyzing them, but Waymo is behind the rest of the data on that data It is a situation. At Uber, the drivers deployed all over the world are collecting a total mileage and data of 100 million miles per day (about 160 million km). Tesla also gets 5 million miles (about 8 million km) in the same way and Toyota has acquired 2.7 million miles (about 4.3 million km) of traveling and data every day. However, Waymo is in a state where the total mileage so far is 3 million miles (about 4.8 million km), which is far behind the competition.

Although this program is targeted to the general public, for a while for a while, Waymo staff is sitting in the driver's seat and the user sits on the passenger seat and the back seat, taking safety into consideration. However, it seems that this measure will be temporary, Mr. Kraftskyk reveals that it is ultimately aiming for operation without staff.

Moreover, payment of fee is unnecessary when using it. In other words, although it is possible to move freely within the area by using an automated driving car, after feedback, it is necessary to feedback feedback and opinions to cooperate with Waymo's investigation. Applications can be made from the following site, but naturally it was not possible to proceed from Japan.

Early Rider Program - Waymo