> Weird question :) My claim is that it won't be open to "anyone" in a useful way any time soon.
Seems pretty clear it will be available to public in the next few weeks, unless you're saying "general access to anyone who chooses to download the app" isn't about general public.
"Beginning Thursday, any existing Waymo One customer can hail a driverless minivan from a fleet of more than 300. The vehicles will be operating in a smaller, roughly 50-square-mile service area. Passengers are free to invite friends and family and to share their experiences on social media. Waymo plans to open the service to new customers within a few weeks. “At that point, we’ll have general access to anyone who chooses to download the app,” Krafcik said." - [0]
Headline: "Waymo is opening its fully driverless service to the general public in Phoenix"
But
Beginning Thursday, any existing Waymo One customer can hail a driverless minivan from a fleet of more than 300. The vehicles will be operating in a smaller, roughly 50-square-mile service area.
Qualifications:
(1) existing Waymo One customers
(2) you can't go anywhere in Phoenix. Phoenix is a lot bigger than 50 square miles. (Also, even if the area were bigger, 300 cars sounds like a small number to cover it)
(3) Waymo plans to reintroduce safety drivers for some rides as it expands its Phoenix service area
Is it driverless or not?
I'm trying to read between all the doublespeak, and I don't see much progress. Again, I would love for someone who lives in Phoenix to sign up, try it, post here, and prove me wrong. Tell me what it was like.
Seems pretty clear it will be available to public in the next few weeks, unless you're saying "general access to anyone who chooses to download the app" isn't about general public.
"Beginning Thursday, any existing Waymo One customer can hail a driverless minivan from a fleet of more than 300. The vehicles will be operating in a smaller, roughly 50-square-mile service area. Passengers are free to invite friends and family and to share their experiences on social media. Waymo plans to open the service to new customers within a few weeks. “At that point, we’ll have general access to anyone who chooses to download the app,” Krafcik said." - [0]
[0] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-08/waymo-one...