Forrester analyst Paul Miller described the launch of the pilot as a "low-key affair". "As expected, only a handful of vehicles are available right now, they only operate in a small part of the city and there's a safety driver in the vehicle in case it encounters situations it cannot handle autonomously," he said. But he added that the move highlighted the company's ambitions to rival firms already offering driverless ride-hailing in the US and around the world. Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, along with Amazon's Zoox, already offer self-driving taxi rides in Austin, as well as in San Francisco, California, and Phoenix, Arizona. Meanwhile Uber, which recently announced it would bring forward trials of driverless taxis in the UK, has partnered with Chinese firms Pony.AI, WeRide and Momenta to bring autonomous ride-hailing to more cities outside the US and China.