By Mike Allen
Welcome back to our quarterly Axios Future Trends, where our subject-matter experts give you an exclusive lookahead. I’d love to hear what you think: Just reply to this email, or write mike@axios.com.
1 big thing: Here come the robotaxis
By year’s end, anyone in metro Phoenix (not just a handful of early participants) will be able to summon an autonomous vehicle from Waymo using an app on their phone. The nation’s first commercial robo-taxi service will be limited to certain areas, but the territory will gradually expand as the cars get even smarter with experience.
RELATED:Let’s take a ride through Chandler inside Waymo self-driving taxi [VIDEO]
Why it matters: Waymo is by far the leader in autonomous vehicle technology, racking up 10 million miles of real-world driving and 5 billion simulated miles. But it’s still up to the public to decide if they want self-driving cars. Waymo’s robo-taxi service will be an early test of that question.
What we’re watching: It’s unlikely we’ll see any movement on federal legislation around AVs this year, unless Congress decides to tackle it during a lame duck session after the November election, which means companies will continue to focus their development efforts in states with the most favorable laws. — Joann Muller
