Waymo has pulled human safety drivers from its autonomous test vehicles in Nashville as the Alphabet-owned company moves closer to launching a robotaxi service in the city.
Waymo, which has been testing in Nashville for months, will launch a robotaxi service there this year in partnership with Lyft. Riders will initially call for rides directly through the Waymo app. Once the service expands, Waymo will also make its self-driving vehicles available through the Lyft app. Lyft said it will provide fleet services such as vehicle readiness and maintenance, charging infrastructure and depot operations through its wholly-owned subsidiary Flexdrive.
Waymo has accelerated its robotaxi expansion and today operates commercial services in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area and Phoenix. It also has driverless test fleets in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando.
The company tends to follow the same rollout strategy in each new market, starting with a small fleet of vehicles that manually drive and map the city. Autonomous vehicles are then tested with safety personnel in the driver’s seat. Finally, the company conducts driverless testing before launching the robotaxi service, often allowing employees to ride with hail.