Want to take a ride in a self-driving car? Visit Chandler, AZ, a Phoenix suburb with a fleet of 600 Waymo driverless minivans.
Waymo at $70 billion, the Phoenix trip suggested the road to profitability will require humans to get it there.Arizona officials said that they have engaged with Waymo routinely for the past several years. So far, the partnership has only worked because of buy-in from cities, which value citizens as first priorities. For Waymo to expand locations, it will have to duplicate those efforts on a larger scale.
Duggan said the company has also had to work out details like who gets a citation, which required an overarching state-wide protocol in order for each jurisdiction to be uniform. The departments are also having to train staff for how to respond to collisions, which Duggan said have more complexities than the typical vehicle.
Duggan said he and the fire chief have been fielding calls from police chiefs across the country with their concerns or curiosities about the technology, particularly after an Uber self-driving carWaymo is preparing for a contingent workforce it will need to take care of its fleets. In the last two months, it posted dozens of jobs, including a new role, "Head of Contingent Workforce Management."Phoenix passengers told us that sometimes drivers still needs to engage.
Waymo also needs 24/7 operators to address rider support -- at one point, we needed to call it in order for the door to open after it presumed the ride was over. Waymo also has a phone number that police officers can call 24/7 if they need to assign a ticket or other citation, officials told us.Up to this point, the company has used human interaction and feedback from Waymo One riders to train its rider experience.
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