Waymo has been promising to start a commercial driverless ride-hailing service in the Phoenix area by the end of this year. With only a few weeks left in the year, the company announced that, starting yesterday, it will provide rides for hire over a 100-square-mile area that includes Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Tempe, Arizona. The service will work like Uber or Lyft: potential users will launch an app on their smart phones, enquire about the cost of going to a particular destination, and then choose whether to hire the car.
Yet there are a couple of important caveats. First, Waymo will have a test driver behind the wheel ready to take over in case of an emergency. Second, only people who are pre-screened by Waymo will be eligible to hire a car for the service. Continue reading
