PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The autonomous ride share company Waymo is ramping up its efforts to establish itself in Philadelphia. The company has moved into a new phase of testing that includes driverless trips around the city.
Waymo, in an announcement that was posted on its website on Wednesday, said that it recently shifted to autonomous testing in the city in preparation for a full launch of the service at an unspecified time in the future. The cars will still have specialists behind the wheel during this testing period.
The company first started running manual tests in Philly during the summer. Drivers would take the Waymo vehicles around to map out the city’s streets and traffic patterns.
Waymo also announced on Wednesday that it was starting with manual testing in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and St. Louis. The company also started testing in Miami, Orlando, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio in November. Full autonomous service is already available in Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
There have been safety concerns and criticisms, however. Recently, a video went viral of a Waymo vehicle going by a tense police investigation and arrest taking place in downtown Los Angeles.
In a statement to several news outlets, the company said the vehicle was only in the area where the standoff was taking place for 15 seconds, and they are trying to learn from such “unusual events” that they encounter.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating an incident in Atlanta in September when a Waymo went around a stopped school bus that had the stop sign out and red lights flashing.
Waymo, citing data it has collected, said its vehicles are safer than human drivers.
“We are committed to driving real progress toward what many cities are striving for: Vision Zero, the global effort to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries,” the company said on its website.