WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- In a major milestone for autonomous driving technology, Waymo's driverless vehicles hit the road in metro area of Phoenix, U.S. state of Arizona this week, and will allow people to start riding the self-driving vehicles in the next few months.
"Fully self-driving cars are here," said Waymo CEO John Krafcik. "With Waymo in the driver's seat, we can reimagine many different types of transportation, from ride-hailing and logistics to public transportation and personal vehicles, too."
Waymo, the self-driving arm of Google's parent company Alphabet, retrofitted several Chrysler Pacifica minivans and started road tests within a 100-square-mile (about 161 square kilometers) area of the Phoenix suburb on Tuesday. Eventually that will expand to the entire sprawling Phoenix region, according to the company.
Different from the current autonomous driving technology adopted by Tesla and other carmakers which still requires a driver to sit behind the wheel, Waymo's driverless vehicles actually have no one sitting in the driver's seat.
"This is a huge leap forward; it's akin to stepping on the moon," said Michael Ramsey, research director at Gartner.
Waymo plans to launch its autonomous taxi fleet soon. "People will get to use our fleet of on-demand vehicles, to do anything from commute to work, get home from a night out, or run errands," said Krafcik.
