Autonomous Cars Drive Without Drivers on California Roads – TechCrunch

The self-driven start-up Waymo, a Google spin-off owned by the parent company Alphabet, got the first license in California to start driverless testing on public roads. Yes, it means that autonomous cars without drivers will be crisscrossing California, starting with a limited geographic area of ​​Silicon Valley.

The company's autonomous vehicles are common on public roads around Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. The startup, which started in the form of a moonshot project under X, has been testing for years on the public road. But this permit, issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, allows Waymo to test these autonomous cars without driver of human test driving.

California's new DMV regulation, which came into effect in April, allows companies to implement driverless testing within well-defined limits. Waymo is the first to get approval. At least one other company is waiting behind the scenes.

Where you will find them

According to Waymo, its driverless test cars will hit the streets near Silicon Valley headquarters, including in some areas of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, the Los Altos Hills and Palo Alto. See map below for unmanned initial launch.

Waymo may have anticipated public mistrust, but noted that he knew the area "well".

"Mountain View is home to more than a dozen autonomous vehicle companies and has been supporting secure testing for years," the company said in its announcement.

Waymo will eventually expand his territory of driverless trials. Before moving to a new area, Waymo announced that it would inform new communities where this expansion would occur and submit a request to the DMV.

Members of the public will not be invited into these driverless cars for the moment. However, Waymo works in this direction. The first driverless trips will be for Waymo employees. Waymo said that he will end up "creating opportunities for the public to experience this technology," just like his program for first releases in Arizona.

What Waymo is allowed to do

The driverless license allows Waymo to test its driverless vehicles day and night in city streets, rural roads and highways with posted speed limits of up to 65 miles at the time. Waymo is also authorized to carry out tests in fog and rain, conditions that its vehicles can support.

If one of his driverless vehicles comes up against a situation, he does not understand that it will come to a "safe stop," Waymo said, adding that his protocols are well established, particularly with respect to relates to the contact of fleets and users.

The company announced earlier this month that its autonomous vehicles traveled 10 million kilometers on public roads in the United States since it began working on autonomous driving technology in 2009.

California is not the first state to test real driverless vehicles on public roads. Arizona gets this distinction. Waymo began testing the 2016 Chrysler Pacifica Minivans self-driving in the suburbs of Phoenix, including Chandler. launched a program for early passengers in April 2017. Later that year, Waymo removed employees and passengers from its test fleet, sending autonomous minivans to the streets of the greater Phoenix area.