{"id":339240,"date":"2017-04-25T19:34:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T11:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1480966"},"modified":"2017-04-25T19:34:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T11:34:25","slug":"waymo-begins-first-public-on-demand-self-driving-service-test-in-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/waymo-begins-first-public-on-demand-self-driving-service-test-in-arizona\/","title":{"rendered":"Waymo begins first public on-demand self-driving service test in Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube c5\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player c4\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"390\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6hbd8N3j7bg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\">Waymo has already been offering members of the public access to its self-driving fleet \u2013 for two months, during a limited trial in Phoenix, Arizona. The Alphabet-owned company quietly kicked off public availability of its Fiat-Chrysler Pacifica minivans and other autonomous vehicles, equipped with self-driving hardware and software, with a small group of testers who live in the Phoenix area, giving them an autonomous way to move around the city.<\/p>\n<p>The Waymo trial is now expanding, with an open application available to members of the pubic living in Phoenix. Waymo is looking to expand the pool, and the application is open to anyone living in Phoenix. Waymo released a video featuring one of its first testing family, who sum up the surprise we likely mostly feel \u2013 Waymo\u2019s self-driving service isn\u2019t just \u2018coming soon,\u2019 it\u2019s actually providing practical service for people right now.<\/p>\n<p>Waymo\u2019s short video also highlights another important aspect of this program \u2013 a focus on people and acclimatization to the tech, rather than on the tech and vehicles themselves. The family featured shares some of the reasons they like the service, and they\u2019re incredibly mundane \u2013 for the father, Ted, it\u2019s mainly about removing a big stressor in the form of the morning commute, and for the mother, Candace, it\u2019s about making it possible to get the mostly teenage kids where they want to go without having to micromanage the vehicle schedule.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1480979\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg?w=1024&#038;h=683 1024w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg?w=2048&#038;h=1366 2048w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg?w=150&#038;h=100 150w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg?w=300&#038;h=200 300w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg?w=768&#038;h=512 768w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_5939.jpg?w=680&#038;h=453 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Waymo also announced that it\u2019s going to be deploying 500 more Pacifica Hybrid vehicles in its self-driving fleet, adding to the existing 100 that it\u2019s already been putting on real roads since the start of this year. That represents a lot of new miles to be driven cumulatively by Waymo, which already has nearly a decade of self-driving experience under its belt thanks to its beginnings as Google\u2019s self-driving car project.<\/p>\n<p>The big news, here, however, is that Waymo has essentially leapfrogged Uber in its self-driving testing; the technology was already much more reliable in practice (I\u2019ve ridden in self-driving vehicles from both), but now Waymo is offering a service that is, as Waymo CEO John Krafcik describes it in a blog post, providing access to a fleet that\u2019s on call \u201cevery day, at any time, to go anywhere within an area that\u2019s about twice the size of San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested, Waymo is <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/waymo.com\/apply\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accepting applications here<\/a>. Having driven around in one of their vehicles, I can safely say I\u2019d be applying to join up myself if I was Phoenix-based.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"453\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_6156.jpg?w=680\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_6156.jpg?w=680 680w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_6156.jpg?w=1360 1360w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_6156.jpg?w=150 150w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_6156.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/waymo_trial_6156.jpg?w=768 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/>&nbsp;Waymo has already been offering members of the public access to its self-driving fleet &#8211; for two months, during a limited trial in Phoenix, Arizona. The Alphabet-owned company quietly kicked off public availability of its Fiat-Chrysler Pacifica minivans and other autonomous vehicles, equipped with self-driving hardware and software, with a small group of testers who live in the Phoenix&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/04\/25\/waymo-begins-first-public-on-demand-self-driving-service-test-in-arizona\/?ncid=rss\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:2mJPEYqXBVI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=2mJPEYqXBVI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:7Q72WNTAKBA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=7Q72WNTAKBA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:-BTjWOF_DHI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:-BTjWOF_DHI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:D7DqB2pKExk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:D7DqB2pKExk\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=3bf2EEYYfFI:PMP0tosy0Nc:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/Techcrunch\/~4\/3bf2EEYYfFI\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-339240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}