Waymo begins its driverless ride-hailing service under early riders programme in US

Google’s self-driving car project, which developed into a fully self-driving service Waymo, is offering a driverless car on hire in the US, just like the Ola and Uber cab-hailing services.

The company has not specified the number of cars that will share the driverless technology. However, it has confirmed that it will increase the frequency of its operations. The company is also accepting customers in its early rider program, who will be matched with a driverless car if it is in their vicinity. They, however, cannot request or book a fully driverless ride.

As per a report in TechCrunch, the company’s driverless rides are currently free and only taking place in a geofenced area that includes parts of Chandler, Mesa, and Tempe. This driverless territory is smaller than Waymo’s standard domain in the Phoenix suburbs, implying that confidence levels are still highly situational. Even Waymo vehicles with safety drivers don’t yet take riders to one of the most popular ride-hailing destinations: the airport.

The company is yet to launch the Waymo as a fully functional cab-hailing service or introduce the self-driving technology in commercially manufactured private vehicles. The company is expected to develop the technology further and ready it for a global introduction in the coming years.