Waymo eyes Raleigh, Durham for self-driving taxis after Charlotte. What to know
Waymo told a Raleigh transportation audience last week that it is in active talks with Triangle governments about bringing its autonomous taxi service to the area. The company plans to launch first in Charlotte, likely by late next year. FULL STORY: Will Waymo come to the Triangle? What a company rep said in Raleigh this week Here are key takeaways: Rich Harrington, a policy adviser for Waymo, told attendees at the N.C. Department of Transportation’s annual Transportation Summit that the company is in “active conversations” with local governments in Raleigh and the Research Triangle. He did not name which ones or give a timetable. Charlotte comes first. Waymo has finished digitally mapping streets in Charlotte and is testing cars there with human drivers behind the wheel, Harrington said, with service expected to start in and around the uptown core by late next year. Safety is central to Waymo’s pitch. Harrington said the company has logged 270 million fully autonomous miles and claims a 92% reduction in serious crashes compared with human drivers in the same cities. State law is already in place. The General Assembly passed a bill in 2017 permitting fully autonomous vehicles and barring local governments from adding
