Waymo starts self-driving tests in Philadelphia for its robo-taxi service
A company spokesperson said Waymo is "laying the groundwork" for offering its autonomous ride-hailing service in the city, but no date was set.
Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Google’s parent firm, said Wednesday that it has begun autonomous tests in Philadelphia and expects to offer its robo-taxis to customers at some point afterward.
“We’re making it official, Philly: Waymo will bring our service to the City of Brotherly Love!” the company announced on its website.
Ethan Teicher, a spokesperson for Waymo, said in an email: “We recently began driving autonomously with a specialist behind the wheel, after securing permission to do so from PennDOT. We’ll continue laying the groundwork in Philadelphia to open our fully autonomous ride-hailing service for the public in the future.”
In July, a Waymo spokesperson said the company would begin mapping Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, manually “driving through the most complex parts of the city, including downtown and freeways.”
In its Wednesday announcement, Waymo said it will begin the mapping process in Pittsburgh, and noted that city’s connection with autonomous driving history. Carnegie Mellon University, which is located in Pittsburgh, is known as the birthplace of self-driving technology.
The company said mapping will also begin in St. Louis and Baltimore.
Under a 2022 Pennsylvania law legalizing the commercial operation of “highly automated vehicles,” Waymo needs a “certificate of compliance” to conduct autonomous testing in specified locations. In July, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said it was reviewing an application from Waymo.
PennDot’s website on Wednesday showed that Waymo now has a certificate for Philadelphia.
The only other company with a certificate for the city is Perrone Robotics, which operates a self-driving shuttle service at the Navy Yard.
In New Jersey, state law does not allow for commercial services using self-driving vehicles on public streets. Legislation recently was introduced to create a pilot program requiring three years of testing with a human driver in the vehicle.
Waymo offers self-driving taxi service in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta, and has test-driven in dozens of other cities. Testing began in New York City this summer.
Currently, the company says it is performing a total of 250,000 rides a week using fully autonomous electric vehicles.
A spokesperson for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said Wednesday that the mayor and other city officials are “closely monitoring Waymo and its plans for Philadelphia” but declined to elaborate.
Besides mapping and testing its vehicles, Waymo has “engaged with community organizations” in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, including the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania, said Teicher, the company spokesperson.
In the company’s announcement, it included a statement from Samantha Civitate, the Pennsylvania state director for Best Buddies, a nonprofit that brings together volunteers and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“Accessible transportation remains a vital piece of fostering independence and inclusion,” Civitate said.
There has been no groundswell of opposition to Waymo coming to Philadelphia. The company, however, has had to deal with recent incidents elsewhere that have generated negative attention.
A Waymo taxi in Los Angeles was caught on video making a left turn just feet away from an incident involving police officers positioned behind their vehicles shouting commands at a suspect who was lying facedown on the ground, apparently waiting to be arrested.
In San Francisco on Sunday, a Waymo taxi hit an unleashed dog, which reportedly needed to be euthanized because of its injuries.
Waymo vehicles have also been targeted, though mainly because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. In June, several Waymo taxis were burned during anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. The company temporarily halted service in the area.