As more offices, government facilities, schools and industries close as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the automotive market continues to take measures to prevent the spread of the virus with several autonomous vehicle manufacturers suspending testing operations.
The move comes just a few days after numerous automotive OEMs suspended operations due to interruptions in the supply chain, lower demand for cars from consumers and to prevent employees from getting sick.
Waymo, Cruise Automation, Pony.ai, Argo.ai and Aurora have all temporarily stopped testing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and conform to local, national and international rules for containment.
Waymo said via Twitter its reasoning for the suspension of operations was “in the interest of the health and safety of our riders and the entire Waymo community.” The Waymo One service in Phoenix would be suspended as well as in California. The fully driverless operations in Phoenix will continue for now along with local delivery and truck testing.
“Removing the human driver holds great promise for not only making our roads safer, but for helping our riders stay healthy in these uncertain times,” Waymo said.
Waymo said it believes it can carry out driverless, delivery and trucking services for riders and partners while maintaining social distancing and adhering to the guidelines shared by the CDC and local authorities. Waymo will continue to monitor COVID-19 developments until any further service changes are needed.
Cruise Automation, the self-driving arm of General Motors Co., also took to Twitter to explain how it would be suspending its own self-driving test operations and closed its San Francisco facilities with the hope of re-opening in three weeks.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Motor Vehicles told Reuters that all of the autonomous vehicle testing permit holders in the state were adhering to federal, state and local public health recommendations to keep social distance.
Argo, a unit inside Ford Motors, is also pausing its vehicle testing operations for self-driving cars and Pony.ai has also paused its robotaxi service in California for the next three weeks, Reuters reported. However, Pony.ai will continue to test its self-driving cars in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Guangzhou.
Uber Technologies Inc. is also temporarily halting its test track and on-road track testing until further information about COVID-19 can be determined, Reuters said.
