Given its success in ride-hailing robotaxis, Waymo, the autonomous driving arm of Alphabet, said it will change its focus to primarily robotaxis and push back on the development of autonomous trucks.
However, the company plans to continue its collaboration with Daimler Truck North America to develop an autonomous trucking platform. Both companies will work to improve road safety and efficiency for autonomous trucking fleets and to invest in creating redundant chassis to facilitate autonomous trucking.
Waymo said it will develop artificial intelligence/machine learning for business growth and rider demand in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The company is seeking to improve its Waymo Driver technology and is testing use cases for vehicles and commercial opportunities for the autonomous technology.
Waymo has been stepping up its testing of the robotaxis such as beginning ride-hailing services from the Phoenix airport and Uber adding the robotaxis to its fleet of ride-hailing, also in Phoenix. These developments happened after Waymo announced last year it would expand to its third major city for testing the robotaxis in Los Angeles.
