If you live in California, vehicles with no drivers may soon be zipping down the freeway past your own car.
Waymo, Alphabet’s robotaxi company, plans to begin testing its self-driving vehicles on Bay Area freeways this week. The driverless cars will be rolled out on the high-speed thoroughfares with company staff in tow as testers.
Sandy Karp, a communications manager with Waymo, told Gizmodo that the company has “been safely and gradually scaling” its operations around freeway travel and that the new rollout would eventually help “Waymo One riders get where they’re going safely and efficiently across our growing service areas.” Karp said: “Taking a highway instead of a surface street in San Francisco” could “significantly enhance a rider’s experience” by making rides shorter.
If that seems like a recipe for disaster, there haven’t been any disasters—not yet, anyway. But it’s not like the process of automating the rideshare industry has been exactly smooth. Since robotaxisshe’s been hearing the robotaxis honking late at night. She apparently lives next to one of the parking lots where the cars roost for the evening and says that the cars can be heard honking as late as 4 a.m.
When reached for comment by Gizmodo, a representative for the company provided the following statement: “We are aware that in some scenarios our vehicles may briefly honk while navigating our parking lots. We have identified the cause and are in the process of implementing a fix.”Pathetic Old Man Claims Crowd at Kamala Harris Rally Was Made With AI
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