I have seen a single younger person at a time riding in one of these around Palo Alto and other Silicon Valley areas more than once. And they were not driving it was driving them. However, if it doesn't have emergency steering wheel and brakes I would never be interested in riding in one.
Google launches Waymo and moves closer to self-driving cars
by Matt McFarland @mattmcfarland December 13, 2016: 3:48 PM ET
Google launches Waymo, its self-driving car company
Google is spinning off its self-driving car program into a separate company called Waymo.
Waymo CEO John Krafcik said Tuesday that its autonomous driving technology has reached an inflection point.
"We're close to bringing this to a lot of people," said Krafcik who
declined to reveal when the general public would have a chance to ride
in one of Waymo's vehicles.
Google is testing the vehicles in Washington, California, Arizona and Texas.
Waymo is currently a unit of X, the so-called moonshot division of Google (GOOGL, Tech30). It will become a unit of Alphabet and be an independent company.
Krafcik said spinning off Waymo would give his team the best of both
worlds. Waymo remains part of the Google family, giving it the resources
of a large tech company, while also some advantages of a startup. Related: A self-driving trucks hauls 51,744 cans of beer across Colorado
Google also revealed Tuesday that it gave a blind man the first ride in
a fully self-driving vehicle in October 2015. Californian Steve Mahan
flew to Austin for the test. It wouldn't have been legal in Google's
home state of California.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler described
his city as "the Kitty Hawk of driverless cars," a reference to the site
of the Wright Brothers first flight.
In October, Uber and Budweiser teamed to deliver a truckload of beer across Colorado. But the truck had a test driver present in the cab and was surrounded by seven vehicles to ensure safety. Related: Is Uber's push for self-driving cars a job killer?
Steve
Mahan gets the first ride in a fully self-driving car, without a test
driver or police escort, in October 2015. The ride occurred in Austin.
Since Mahan's ride in 2015, Google's vehicles have driven a billion
miles in simulation, and a million on public roads in autonomous mode.
Waymo lost a key executive in August when Director Chris Urmson left
the program. Krafcik reassured reporters that Google remained focused on
delivering fully self-driving vehicles.
"With inspirations like Steve driving us, that's the problem we need to solve. That remains our singular focus," Krafcik said.
He said that some Waymo vehicles, such as its Pacifica minivans, would
continue to have a steering wheel and pedals due to regulations.
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