Google spin-off Waymo is to begin commercial operations in the US cities of San Diego, Tampa and Denver, the company said this week, as it prepares to launch a driverless taxi service in London.
Amazon’s Zoox meanwhile said it would begin testing operations in Houston and San Diego, initially using retrofitted vehicles for manual mapping and other testing before deploying its boxy, purpose-built autonomous vehicles.
Zoox has been offering free rides in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Austin and Miami, and began offering paid rides in Las Vegas in August after receiving regulatory approval for its purpose-built cars, which don’t include human driver controls.
Image credit: Zoox
Regulatory approval
