Waymo plans to start testing its fully autonomous vehicles with no human safety driver on freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area this week. Its employees will be the first guinea pigs, and initial testing will start outside rush hour with “less than a handful” of vehicles. For those who didn’t already know, Waymo got the approval from California regulators to charge for autonomous rides on the freeway back in March, so this is a step toward achieving that.
The move comes as Waymo — flush with an additional $5 billion investment from Alphabet — pushes to expand in SF. Last week, Waymo added 10 square miles to its robotaxi service area to include cities surrounding the city, including Daly City, Broadmoor and Colma.
TechCrunch also recently reported that Waymo is ramping up efforts to access pickup and drop-offs at San Francisco International Airport.
