Waymo launches first US commercial self-driving taxi service

Almost ten years after Google secretly started work on technology that would allow a vehicle to operate without a human driver, the company has launched the nation's first commercial self-driving robo-taxi. Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, introduced a small fleet of ride-hailing vehicles in Phoenix, Arizona, asking people to pay, just as they would to travel by Uber or Lyft. For now, the project will also feature a human driver behind the wheel, just in case the robotic vehicle malfunctions. "Over time, we hope to make Waymo One available to even more members of the public Self-driving technology is new to many, so we're proceeding carefully," Waymo's CEO John Krafcik, wrote in a blog post about Wednesday's run-out. He added: "Almost 10 years ago, we were founded as the Google self-driving car project to explore one simple question: how can we best use fully self-driving technology to make roads safer? We've been focused on building the world's most experienced driver ever since."