PHOENIX — Fully driverless Waymo vehicles are becoming available to the general public starting Thursday in the Phoenix area.
Waymo says its cars will provide rides to current Waymo One users, who are now allowed to take friends and family along with them. In the coming weeks, more riders will be able to take the driver-less rides through the Waymo app.
"In the near term, 100% of our rides will be fully driverless," a Waymo blog post states. "We expect our new fully driverless service to be very popular, and we’re thankful to our riders for their patience as we ramp up availability to serve demand."
Waymo is also adding barriers between front and back seats for hygiene and safety measures, and will be re-introducing rides with trained vehicle operators.
The company started its driverless car journey in the Valley in 2017. Waymo says 5-10% of rides in 2020 have been fully driverless, utilizing their early rider program.
Read the full statement from Waymo here.
