The autonomous car manufacturer Waymo, owned by the American technology company Google, intends to strengthen its dominant position in the autonomous taxi market by operating in other American cities, according to what has been reported by the German press agency.
According to the company, Waymo’s self-driving cars take more than 150,000 trips per week and travel more than a million miles with passengers on board, without a driver behind the wheel.
The company currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and most recently Atlanta. The company has not revealed the new cities in which it plans to operate in the coming period.
For his part, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Group, owner of Google, said that Waymo cars have quickly become an integral part of daily life in the cities of Austin and Atlanta, adding that Waymo’s cooperation with smart transportation services company Uber Technologies contributed to this growth.
It comes as Elon Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla, unveiled a test model of a self-driving electric car with the aim of operating a taxi. It said it intends to start producing these cars in 2026, with the hope of producing around two million cars per year.
Musk has been promising to produce a self-driving electric taxi for years, but Tesla still produces cars with a driver assistance system that requires a driver at the wheel, while Waymo cars operate without a driver.
At the same time, Waymo cars are expensive due to the use of expensive technology to ensure safety using additional sensors such as radar, which uses a laser to scan the area surrounding the car in all directions , which represents a major problem for attempts. make a profit on the production and operation of this car. Waymo says it is developing a newer, less expensive driving system.