{"id":147258,"date":"2020-05-08T13:26:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=147258"},"modified":"2020-05-08T13:26:36","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:26:36","slug":"waymo-restarting-autonomous-vehicle-testing-in-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2020\/05\/waymo-restarting-autonomous-vehicle-testing-in-phoenix\/","title":{"rendered":"Waymo Restarting Autonomous Vehicle Testing in Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Waymo will restart its Waymo One autonomous ride service without passengers. It’ll be safety drivers only until circumstances change in Phoenix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Courtesy of the ongoing pandemic, Waymo is going back to the future with its Waymo one autonomous ride service. The company is going to resume sending the vehicles back out on the roads around Phoenix, but with drivers only \u2014 no passengers.<\/p>\n

The company suspended drives in March, but starting May 11, a small portion of the company\u2019s fleet of white Chrysler Pacifica minivans will be roaming the roads again, collecting data and implementing new technology the company\u2019s been working on for the last two months.<\/p>\n

And while the vehicles will be equipped with the latest and greatest updates, they will not carry passengers as state and CDC guidelines don\u2019t allow for that kind of activity yet. Waymo officials are uncertain when the shuttles will be able to take passengers again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Waymo partners with UPS for autonomous deliveries.)<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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Waymo and UPS have been engaged in a pilot program using Waymo’s autonomous minivans to haul packages in Phoenix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Waymo has been working to institute new procedures for its employees for their return to week next week.<\/p>\n

In addition to making the self-driving minivans eschew passengers \u2013 beyond the test driver \u2013 the company has implemented new rules and protocols designed to keep its employees safe. Employees at the company\u2019s facilities are required to employ social distancing techniques as much as possible.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s work areas have been spaced six feet apart, and the use of common areas has been \u201credefined.\u201d Waymo also now has placed maximum capacity limits on those spaces.<\/p>\n

(Waymo partnering with Renault and\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Nissan.)<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Employees will undergo training in the new protocols when they return, and they will wear face masks while they are in Waymo facilities and vehicles, the company noted. \u00a0Additionally, the sites have been deep cleaned and, in partnership with AutoNation, will receive multiple daily cleanings of Waymo vehicles.\u00a0Not surprisingly, each employee will be screened by an occupational healthcare provider before starting work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This is a sight that won’t be seen on any Waymo One shuttles in metro Phoenix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking a thoughtful and measured approach towards bringing our driving operations back on the road,\u201d the company noted in a blog post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll begin driving in other cities in the days and weeks to come, including San Francisco, Detroit, and Los Angeles, and the resumption of our driving operations in these locations will similarly be guided by ensuring the safety and health of our team in line with CDC and state and local guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Waymo kicks off autonomous taxi and ride-sharing service.)<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Waymo has had about 1,000 autonomous vehicles testing in cities across the U.S. That number is expected to jump 10 fold in the next two years as it and other companies race to be the first to develop a Level 5 \u2013\u00a0completely self driving \u2013 autonomous vehicle. In addition to its Waymo One service, the company started Waymo Via this year for automated trucking and urban deliveries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of the ongoing pandemic, Waymo is going back to the future with its Waymo one autonomous ride service. The company is going to resume sending the vehicles back out on the roads around Phoenix, but with drivers only \u2014 no passengers. Get details at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4389,"featured_media":147260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,13,14,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[115],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,150,151,313,123,319,132,129,121,136,137,291,288,178,245],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147258"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=147258"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=147258"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=147258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}