A fully autonomous Waymo vehicle service has launched to the general public at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
City of Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego arrived at the 44th Street and Washington PHX Sky Train Station via a Waymo vehicle to launch the new service.
Future mobility
It claims to be the first airport in the world to offer travellers the ability to take a Waymo autonomous vehicle as a means of transportation to and from the airport.
“Phoenix is leading the future of mobility and modernising how the world will experience travel,” said Gallego. “The exciting technology offers our customers an additional option for traveling to the airport in a clean, sustainable, and technologically advanced mode of transportation. The future has arrived in Phoenix.”
Waymo also announced it is more than doubling the Waymo One service area in Downtown Phoenix. The expansion connects the airport service to a large part of the downtown area.
In early November, Waymo began offering its trusted tester participants the opportunity to take autonomous rides to and from downtown Phoenix and the airport with an autonomous specialist in the vehicle. Now, Waymo has removed the autonomous specialist from the vehicle and anyone can hail a Waymo to ride between the airport and downtown Phoenix.
Rides are available 24 hours, seven days a week in Waymo’s fully electric Jaguar I-Pace equipped with the fifth generation Waymo Driver. Pick-ups and drop-offs occur at the 44 th Street PHX Sky Train Station where travellers can board the free PHX Sky Train direct to the terminals. Trains arrive and depart every few minutes.
This new service comes two years after Waymo opened its fully autonomous commercial ride-hailing service, Waymo One, to the public in the East Valley of Phoenix and builds on the company’s strong partnership with the City of Phoenix.
The city has also celebrated the opening of the final stage of the PHX Sky Train. The 2.5 mile extension connects the terminals with the Rental Car Centre and adds two new stations – the Rental Car Centre Station and the 24th Street Station.
Source: smartcitiesworld.net
Source: IOT NETWORK NEWS
