I’m sure the introverts of the world would love driverless taxis. No eye contact, no weird music, no awkward small talk – it’d be perfect. And as it turns out, that might actually be what the future of taxis has in store for us.
We’ve talked a lot about the future of driverless cars, but not much about driverless taxis. Of course, the technology as a whole has a few more milestones to reach before it could ever be rolled out expansively, but in Phoenix, Arizona, certain people are already getting a taste of what a future with driverless taxis may be like.
Waymo, (formerly the Google self-driving car project), has been experimenting with new innovations in mobility, and have now opened up driverless taxis to registered Phoenix residents. Until recently, the service called Waymo One was only open to a small number of residents, who were barred from actually talking about their driverless taxi experience in public.
If you live in Phoenix and are excited to hop into a Waymo One taxi, don’t get too excited yet. New members will likely have to wait awhile before they’re able to use the service. As Waymo CEO John Krafcik noted, there’s already a backlog of registered riders who have not had the chance to ride in their signature taxis – and they’ll get first dibs on the current fleet of 300 driverless Chrysler Pacificas.
As far as keeping everything clean in between drives, the taxis will be subject to what the company is calling a “cabin-air flush”. According to the company, this process will be able to get rid of 99% of germs and other air-borne contaminants that may have been introduced by previous riders.
Interested in joining the waiting list? Learn more and sign up here to join the other Phoenix residents waiting for their turn in the driverless cabs of the future.
Want more news on driverless cars? Check out the Headlights blog for that and more!