Waymo’s test fleet of self-driving cars recently reached 8 million miles driven, and is now covering 25,000 miles a day, CEO John Krafcik said on Twitter.
The Waymo fleet continues to rack up mileage on public roads as the Google division works toward launching a commercial ride-hailing service. The 8-million-mile mark was reached roughly a month after the self-driving fleet hit 7 million miles. The fleet has doubled its mileage in just eight months, having hit 4 million miles in November 2017. In addition to testing on public roads, Krafcik said Waymo has covered 5 billion miles in simulations.
Waymo currently tests its self-driving cars in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Michigan and Washington state. Most testing occurs in California, where Waymo and parent Google are based. But the switch from testing to commercial operations will start one state over.
Waymo self-driving cars will be used in a ridesharing service launching in Phoenix, Ariz., later this year. Vehicles will initially be limited to designated areas of the city, but Waymo plans to expand the area of operations and possibly add more cities in the future. Arizona has among the most permissive autonomous car laws of any state, which may have played into Waymo’s decision to launch its service there, rather than in its home state of California.
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Source: Digital Trends
