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Waymo opens autonomous ride-hailing service in downtown Phoenix

“After invaluable feedback from our Trusted Testers, we're excited to offer Waymo One to anyone in downtown Phoenix," said Chris Ludwick, Waymo product management director. "Our fifth-generation Jaguar I-PACE vehicles offer a trusted space where people feel confident hailing a ride in downtown Phoenix – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

After announcing Los Angeles as its next major city and offering the first ever public rides to an airport at Phoenix Sky Harbor, Waymo One service is growing its autonomous ride-hailing service again in the Valley. 

Earlier this month, they introduced their Waymo One fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the general public in downtown Phoenix. This paid, round-the-clock service is available to anyone who downloads the app and hails a ride within the downtown area, offering the transportation option to residents and visitors alike. Waymo plans to expand this service to even more of the downtown area in the coming months. 

“After invaluable feedback from our Trusted Testers, we're excited to offer Waymo One to anyone in downtown Phoenix," said Chris Ludwick, Waymo product management director. "Our fifth-generation Jaguar I-PACE vehicles offer a trusted space where people feel confident hailing a ride in downtown Phoenix – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Here’s a quick rundown of what that means:

  • Building on two years of success in Phoenix’s East Valley – the first public, paid and 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service in the world – Waymo will offer even more Arizonans safe, convenient transportation. 
  • This is the first public deployment of the fifth-generation Waymo Driver equipped on Jaguar I-PACEs. After months of driving with Trusted Testers and employees, the technology is more than capable of navigating downtown’s complexity.
  • Opening Waymo One to anyone in the downtown area – not just its residents – provides a unique opportunity for visitors and tourists to experience the technology during their trip.
  • Advancements in technology and service allow Waymo to accelerate market introductions. They first opened the Waymo Trusted Tester program with autonomous specialists in downtown Phoenix in late March, then offered Trusted Testers fully autonomous rides in late summer and are now fully autonomous and open to the public. They plan to follow this accelerated playbook to quickly expand further in the future.
  • Waymo One continues expanding access in greater Phoenix, as shown by the announcement of Trusted Testers that are now able to hail rides to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, and they plan to open airport rides to the public in the coming months.
  • This is another key location to operate a paid and fully autonomous service, and they look forward to bringing San Francisco and Los Angeles online in the near future.