Waymo eyes driverless taxi rollout in Pittsburgh
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A Waymo self-driving car in San Francisco. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
The Steel City could have driverless taxis in the near future, if everything goes according to Waymo's plans.
Why it matters: Autonomous vehicle company Waymo is in the midst of a robotaxi expansion, and Pittsburgh is one of 19 additional U.S. cities coming online in the next year or two, the company announced Wednesday in a blog post.
What they're saying: "We're excited for residents and visitors in Pittsburgh to one day experience the safety, convenience, and magic of our technology firsthand," reads the company's post.
- It also cited the city's history of testing autonomous vehicles and Carnegie Mellon University's prowess in robotics and autonomous technology.
Zoom in: Waymo said it will begin testing its vehicles with a manual driver this week in Downtown and then move to autonomous driving testing with a trained specialist behind the wheel "in the coming months."
- The company's goal is to eventually bring fully autonomous taxis to the city.
Zoom out: Companies can operate autonomous vehicles in Pennsylvania with or without a safety driver behind the wheel, according to state rules.
Yes, but: No companies are operating fully autonomously and without a driver in Pennsylvania, and Waymo has not yet applied to operate fully automated vehicles in the state, according to PennDOT spokesperson Alexis Campbell.
- Waymo has a certificate of compliance to operate with a driver on board in Philadelphia, but not in Pittsburgh.
State of play: Mayor Ed Gainey's spokesperson Olga George told Axios that the state authorized Waymo to operate through a state law passed in 2022, and that the state now controls the permits, not the city.
- City Councilwoman Erika Strassburger spoke with most City Council members on Wednesday and none were told about Waymo's testing plans before the news broke, she tells Axios.
The other side: Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher said the company is in the process of engaging city and state officials and — when operations begin — plans to brief Pittsburgh leaders about its technology and expansion plans.
Context: Waymo is currently operating in five cities — Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Atlanta and Austin (the latter two in partnership with Uber, plus a relationship in Phoenix as well), and has faced some roadblocks to its expansion plans.
Flashback: Pittsburgh was a popular proving ground for driverless cars in the late 2010s, with companies like Uber, Argo AI, and others testing on city streets. Some of them eventually ended their local operations, but a few still test here, like Aurora.