Waymo has been inviting residents in Phoenix to use Waymo’s self-driving fleets in their daily commute for the past month. These riders are amongst the first to take part in Waymo’s early rider program.
Now, Waymo is opening up applications for residents in Phoenix to take part in the early rider program. According to a blog post by Waymo, the program “will be accepting hundreds of people with diverse backgrounds and transportation needs who want to ride in and give feedback about Waymo’s self-driving cars.”
“Rather than offering people one or two rides, the goal of this program is to give participants access to our fleet every day, at any time, to go anywhere within an area that’s about twice the size of San Francisco.” CEO of Waymo, John Krafcik wrote in the post.
Apart from the early rider program, Waymo also notes that they will be adding another 500 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans to the fleet, on top of the 100 self-driving Pacifica minivans that has started rolling out on public roads earlier this year.
Waymo has been focusing on technology behind self-driving cars for the past 8 years, racking up millions of miles of experience, teaching cars advanced driving skills, and improving the performance of software. With the early riders program, Waymo is beginning to roll out and turn attention to the people who will hopefully be using this in their daily lives.
“We’ll learn things like where people want to go in a self-driving car, how they communicate with our vehicles, and what information and controls they want to see inside.”
Waymo’s goal is to get as many people on board with the technology, to experience the technology, bringing the technology to communities sooner. The early rider program will serve as a stepping stone to Waymo bringing self-driving technology into the world — through personal cars, public transportation, ride-hailing, logistics and more.
“Self-driving cars have the potential to reshape each and every one of these areas, transforming our lives and our cities by making them safer, more convenient and more accessible.”
Check eligibility and apply for the early rider program here.
