Google’s self-driving car venture is giving free “everyday access” to selected families in the Phoenix area, part of an effort to spur real-world adoption of the technology and build a base of future customers.
Its announcement, coming in a tweet early Tuesday, also serves as something of pre-buttal before a public hearing later in the day on proposed regulations in California, where Google and its Waymo unit are based.
As California puts the final touches on the nation’s most far-reaching rules on autonomous cars, other states, including Arizona, are seeking to gain a bigger foothold, in part by presenting a more permissive regulatory environment.
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The Department of Transportation last year asked tech and automotive firms to submit voluntary safety letters as part of their driverless initiatives, but refrained from imposing regulations, saying they did not want to stymie innovation.
For now, Waymo said there will be a “test driver in each vehicle monitoring the rides at all times.” That’s on par with what Uber said it was doing when it first offered some app users in Pittsburgh a chance to ride in one of its self-driving test cars.
But Waymo is pursuing a deeper connection with its future paid passengers — and hoping to learn how early enthusiasts actually behave.
“Our goal is to give our early riders everyday access to our vehicles, and we encourage you to take rides as frequently as possible,” Waymo says on its application site.
You have to be 18 to apply, and, if accepted, all the other members of the household can ride, the company says. Initially, rides are possible “within parts of the Phoenix metropolitan area, including Chandler, Tempe, Mesa and Gilbert.”
The company said other would-be early adopters should stay tuned for information on when their cities might be added.
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