Waymo marks 1 million miles with ‘no human driver on public roads’

Waymo’s latest milestone is autonomously driving one million miles on public roads without a human safety driver.

There’s some nuance to that figure, and you might remember how several years ago the Alphabet company would publicize whenever it hit a million miles of self-driving on public roads. The last reported stat in that vein was eight million miles on public roads in July of 2018.

The lack of a safety driver is the focus of today’s announcement. As part of that one-million miles figure, Waymo has autonomously navigated over one million left turns, 1.5 million unprotected interactions, 2.3 million traffic lights, and it has encountered 732,000 cyclists in the process. It notes that 33% of those miles occurred on higher speed roads that it defines as 36-45 mph. 

In Metro and Downtown Phoenix, Waymo One offers paid rider-only (no human driver) trips to the public that are paid. Waymo offers rider-only trips to those in its preview program, which can include the public. There’s also employee testing in a larger portion of the city. Los Angeles should be its next expansion. 

Meanwhile, Waymo shared on Monday how it’s testing freeways with a ride from South Bay (Santa Clara Valley) to San Francisco. 

More on Waymo:

• A quick look at Waymo’s custom, steering wheel-less robotaxi [Video]
• Google layoffs are wide-ranging as Larry Page, Sergey Brin consulted on AI future
• Here’s a Waymo car self-driving in San Francisco set to lo-fi hip-hop [Video]
• Waymo AVs can play a melody instead of honking to help you find your ride