Today's Edition
San Jose (dpa)
Google's sister company Waymo said on Monday it is expanding its robotaxi operations in the United States, targeting launches in San Diego, Las Vegas and Detroit next year.
The company, which is owned by Google's parent firm Alphabet and is considered a leader in autonomous driving, currently carries more than 250,000 passenger trips per week, according to the latest available data.
The move comes amid competition from Tesla, whose chief executive Elon Musk has ambitious plans to make his electric vehicle company the leader in autonomous robotaxis. He has said that Tesla's newer production vehicles have all the necessary hardware to operate autonomously using cameras alone.
In contrast, Waymo and other developers, including Amazon-owned Zoox, rely on additional costly lidar sensors to scan the vehicle's surroundings, aiming for greater safety.
Tesla's approach offers a cost advantage, but questions remain about consumer trust in the technology. So far, only a small number of Tesla robotaxis operate in Austin, Texas, where the company is based, and a safety driver sits in the front passenger seat.
Musk recently said Tesla expects to be able to operate some vehicles without a passenger-side attendant by the end of the year and aims to launch its robotaxi service in eight to 10 US cities by then.
Waymo's driverless vehicles currently serve passengers in California's San Francisco and Los Angeles, Arizona's Phoenix, Georgia's Atlanta and Austin. Miami and Washington, DC are next in line.
Internationally, the company is exploring expansion into London and Tokyo.
