"Waymo usually enters a new city by first conducting months of manual driving and mapping to understand local road conditions, traffic patterns, and edge cases before gradually introducing autonomous testing and eventually fully driverless operations."
"While Charlotte - with its suburban-style layout and mild weather - may be an easier use case, Chicago's harsh winters, heavy traffic, and dense urban complexity would be more of a challenge for Waymo. Operating there successfully would strengthen Waymo's case that its system is nationally scalable."
"The news comes the same week Waymo began offering commercial driverless operations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando, bringing its total city count to 10."
Waymo is expanding its autonomous vehicle operations by entering Chicago and Charlotte, starting with manual mapping and data collection phases. The company follows a standard expansion process: months of manual driving to understand local conditions, traffic patterns, and edge cases before introducing autonomous testing and eventually fully driverless operations. Charlotte's suburban layout and mild weather present a simpler deployment scenario, while Chicago's harsh winters, heavy traffic, and urban density pose greater challenges. Successfully operating in Chicago would demonstrate Waymo's system's national scalability. This expansion follows Waymo's launch of commercial driverless operations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando, bringing its total operational cities to ten. The company is also testing and planning launches in Denver, London, and Washington, D.C., supported by a recent $16 billion funding round for international expansion.
Read at TechCrunch
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