Waymo on Schedule to Launch Self-Driving Taxi Service

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit is on track to debut an autonomous taxi service over the next two years, according to CEO John Krafcik.

Initial tests will begin later this year in a 100-sq-mile area in metropolitan Phoenix. Riders will be able to take the self-driving taxis anywhere in the geofenced zone and “every driving scenario to be imagined,” Krafcik tells reporters at the New York auto show.

He says Waymo’s self-driving fleet, which includes specially equipped Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans and Jaguar’s new electric I-Pace crossover vehicles, will be able to operate autonomously 100% of the time. Waymo began offering test rides in a self-driving Pacifica without a backup driver onboard last month in Phoenix.

Krafcik says he’s confident that Waymo vehicles can operate safely in virtually any situation. This includes detecting pedestrians—and avoiding crashes—on darkened roads similar to the driving environment under which a self-driving Uber vehicle struck and killed a woman last month in Tempe, Ariz.

Waymo’s fleet of 600 autonomous Pacificas has accumulated more than five million miles of testing on public roads across 25 cities in the U.S. to date. Last month the company inked a long-term collaboration deal with Jaguar Land Rover that will start with 20,000 self-driving I-Pace models.

Waymo also uses a closed track in California to tests its technology in traffic situations based on actual crashes. And the company has run the equivalent to five billion miles of testing via computer simulations, which Krafcik says allows for more complex situations than are typical in real life.