They say seeing is believing. On a brisk and sunny February morning, a ride around San Francisco in a Waymo fully autonomous vehicle and a walk around the company’s depot was indeed eye-opening.
I’m Ryan Fisher, and along with my colleague Andrew Grant, we saw a trip to the West Coast for BloombergNEF’s San Francisco summit as a chance for some on-the-ground research. Once our work at the conference was complete, we headed to the Bayview district to see Waymo’s operation in action.
The autonomous-driving company spun-off by Google parent Alphabet operates a pilot ride-hailing service in the city, with a few hundred autonomous vehicles. So one of the first things you notice upon arrival at the depot is the cars buzzing around, including Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles and Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrids. All are fully kitted-out with an array of sensors, including a 360-degree lidar system.
