Self-driving cars are officially taking off in the US. Los Angeles and San Francisco have authorized self-driving cars powered by Waymo, and San Diego is joining them next year. Driverless cars are already serving customers in Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta.
Waymo—part of the Google-led Alphabet Inc.—has also launched its testing operations in other major cities: Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, Tampa, Minneapolis, Detroit, Las Vegas and New Orleans.
The company is mulling plans to start offering rides to customers in London and Tokyo sometime next year.
“Our approach to each new city is consistent,” the company said in a statement. “We compare our driving performance against a proven baseline to validate the Vimo driver’s performance and identify any unique local characteristics. As needed, we improve the Vimo driver’s AI to navigate these spatial nuances — which are becoming less frequent with each city.”
The customer experience with Waymo is simply an Uber without a driver. A ride is booked through the app, the car arrives and is unlocked from your phone, you’re off and away. In cities like Austin, where the Vemo fleet is small, driverless cars are operating through the Uber network.
The cars themselves are currently manufactured by Jaguar. Vemo has also entered into a partnership with Hyundai.
The big questions concern self-driving cars as a societal development and how they will affect culture.
Some have speculated that self-driving cars will make raising children more affordable and less time-consuming. Most parents will insist on sending their child alone in an Uber, but this may not apply to driverless rides. So time-poor parenting can result in Vimo shifting the burden of running kids from school to home, play, or to friends’ houses on robots. This enables parents to work longer hours, and even less financial losses for women when they become mothers.
Depending on the speed of take-off and popularity, we may also see further differentiation of the service. For example, cars can allow customers to set up a laptop and start working while driving. This could potentially reverse the trend of inner city land being priced higher than outer suburban land, making it more accessible and appealing to professionals with families.
A rollout in Australia is sure to go a long way. Still, the appearance of Vimo is one of the most important technological advances in everyday life since LLMS and mRNA vaccines.
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