Waymo and Uber launched their robotaxi services to the Atlanta public on Tuesday, officially expanding their autonomous ride-hailing into the southeastern U.S.
The service currently covers 65 square miles around the city but does not include highways or routes to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Rides are only available through the Uber app. To improve chances of being matched with Waymo, passengers can enable Waymo ride preferences in their Uber settings.
Waymo is beginning operations in Atlanta with dozens of vehicles and plans to scale from there. The fleet uses all-electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs equipped with the Waymo Driver, the company’s driverless technology. The system uses lidar and radar sensors to detect obstacles and allows vehicles to operate without human supervision.
Tesla, once a pioneer in the industry of driverless technology, is fighting to keep up with Waymo and other autonomous vehicle competitors. The automaker officially entered the robotaxi space over the weekend with a quiet, invite-only soft launch in Austin. The pilot is limited in both scope and capability. Tesla’s robotaxi vehicles are Model Y SUVs equipped with the company’s latest driverless technology. However, the vehicles only operate during daytime hours, in a geofenced area and have a human valet in the passenger seat to oversee safety. The rollout was met with some bumps in the road, with videos surfacing online of a vehicle driving in the wrong lane and another reportedly exceeding the speed limit.
Waymo’s launch in Atlanta adds another major metro to its growing list of service areas, which already include Austin, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and parts of Silicon Valley. The company is planning to expand further, with Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, New York and Miami on the future agenda.
