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Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car spinoff, was granted a permit to operate as a Transportation Network Company by the state of Arizona back on January 24, clearing the way for it to begin operating a self-driving ride-hailing service in the state sometime later this year, Ars Technica reports.
The company has been testing its self-driving vehicles in the Phoenix area since the beginning of 2017, and started an early rider program last April that allows approved users to take trips in Waymo’s cars. Waymo has not charged for these rides, though, and the permit will allow it to start doing so. The company said it plans to launch a driverless ride-hailing service in “several US cities” by the end of this year, meaning it’s possible this launch in Arizona could be the first of several in the coming months.
Once launched, Waymo will likely become the first company to operate an autonomous ride-hailing service in the US. The company hasn’t said if it will start providing rides to consumers without a backup driver behind the wheel, but has already been testing vehicles on public roads without drivers. Other companies have deployed pilot services in the US, but these have all been operated by cars that still have a driver inside to take control of the car in the case of emergencies.
Uber, notably, has had its autonomous cars pick up passengers as part of its ride-hailing fleet in Pittsburgh since the fall of 2016, while nuTonomy, a self-driving startup purchased by Aptiv (formerly Delphi) last year, is conducting a trial of an autonomous taxi service in the Seaport section of Boston through Lyft’s open self-driving platform.
That will give the company several advantages as it expands to other locations around the country. Waymo has already partnered with Avis for maintaining its fleet in Arizona, and last month, it did the same with Trov to insure its fleet. The company will thus be able to start building expertise on maintaining and insuring fleets of autonomous vehicles, while GM, Uber, Ford, and others are still working on readying their self-driving technologies for launch. In addition, Waymo’s work with Arizona regulators could give it valuable experience in dealing with watchdogs that it can leverage as it expands elsewhere.
But, perhaps most importantly, the company will likely gain a valuable brand image as the preeminent provider of autonomous ride-hailing services. US consumers still are highly skeptical of the vehicles’ safety, but Waymo’s early entrance could help it gain an innovative reputation, and convince consumers that its cars are safer than those from later entrants. That would be a valuable competitive advantage once these companies come into direct competition with each other in certain geographies. All of this could allow the tech company to secure a place in the market by the time these other players make their entrance, and make it challenging for rivals to overcome or catch up to Waymo.
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