Waymo Pulls Human Backup Drivers, Rolls Out Fully Autonomous Vehicle Tests

Once reserved for the most wayward visions of our future, fully autonomous vehicles are already a reality — and it happened faster than many would have guessed.

Although it will be at least a few years until our nation’s highways fill with robotic cars, those in the transportation are already gearing up for the next revolution in the automotive sector.

Who Is Waymo?

Waymo is still a young company, having launched in 2009, but they’ve already made leaps and bounds in the development of autonomous vehicles. A division of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, Waymo assumed their current name and profile in 2016 — and they haven’t looked back.

According to their website, the team with Waymo amasses more than 25,000 miles — all driven autonomously — on a weekly basis. The distance comes in addition to 1 billion simulated miles, used for further testing and development, in 2016 alone. While much of their work is confined to research laboratories, they’re offering the world’s first public trial of an autonomous vehicle — and it’s happening now.

Self-driving cars are already operating in the state of Arizona, which serves a preliminary testing ground for the highly innovative, driverless vehicles. Up until now, their testing has been reserved for company-owned hardware and equipment, but all that’s about to change.

A specific timeline has yet to be announced for the public trial, but residents in Chandler, Arizona, where the initial roll-out will begin, are excited about the future. The city’s mayor, Jay Tibshraeny, shared the residents’ optimism and the idea that autonomous vehicles will lead to safer roads and increased accessibility to transportation for those with disabilities that currently prevent them from driving.

How Far Will This Road Take Us?

Technology will continue to play a part in the future of transportation. GIS, or geographic information systems, are already highly developed regarding roadway mapping and travel predictions. Services like Waze and HERE Traffic provide users with real-time traffic, weather and construction updates as they drive.

In addition to continued technological development, we’ll likely see new laws as a result of driverless cars, too. One of the reasons Waymo chose the community of Chandler is because their legal stipulations regarding autonomous vehicle testing are virtually non-existent. Some states, like California, have already begun regulation.

The viability of self-driving emergency vehicles is another one of Waymo’s innovative ideas. Also featured in Chandler, which saw its first “emergency vehicle testing day” in June 2017, the fleet includes various fire trucks, ambulances, police cruisers and motorcycles. Although none of these is currently suitable for responding or reacting to a live emergency, initial tests collected valuable data that will be used to refine these autonomous systems even further.

What Does This Mean for the Average Consumer?

From helping tired or weary drivers reach their destinations safely to responding to emergencies, self-driving vehicles have a tremendous potential to transform our roadways.

Most experts agree that the idea of an autonomous, consumer-oriented car is still a few years away, but the tests performed by Waymo and other companies have shown auspicious results thus far.

If they continue at their current pace, you could be sitting in the passenger seat of a self-driving car before you know it.