"But it was Sen. Ed Markey's questions about overseas workers, and Peña's response, that everyone paid attention to. Peña, when asked about human workers who assist with Waymo vehicles' navigation or emergencies, revealed that the company has remote guidance workers based overseas in the Philippines. This sparked some quick ire from Markey, who admonished Peña on how the company could rely on people without U.S. driver's licenses to assist its vehicles on U.S. roads, among other criticisms."
"Remote assistance (RA) workers are there to respond to specific requests for information that the Waymo self-driving system asks for. The company also has Event Response Teams, or ERTs, people who are certified for more complex tasks and are exclusively based in the United States. This team responds to collisions, interfacing with law enforcement and the rider, collecting data for regulatory reporting, and coordinating towing, Waymo says."
Waymo disclosed that remote guidance workers based overseas in the Philippines assist its vehicles by responding to specific information requests from the self-driving system. The company emphasized that these remote-assistance workers do not remotely drive the vehicles and that the autonomous systems remain in control. Waymo said it has about "70 Remote Assistance agents on duty worldwide at any given time." The company also maintains U.S.-based Event Response Teams (ERTs) certified to handle complex tasks such as collision response, law enforcement interaction, rider liaison, regulatory data collection, and towing coordination.
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