By Luke Stangel | Phoenix Business Journal
Waymo is on the verge of commercializing its self-driving car technology, with plans to launch the nation’s first robotaxi service in Phoenix within the next two months.
The service will initially launch in Phoenix and be thoroughly tested before expanding to other markets. It will have two revenue streams: From people who summon an autonomous car to drive them to the destination of their choice, and from businesses that will ferry customers to and from their stores, Waymo CEO John Krafcik said at the Wall Street Journal’sD.Live conference on Tuesday.
The news that Waymo, a unit of Alphabet Inc., was intending to compete head to head against Uber and Lyft with driverless cars was first reported in May.
Krafcik said he was surprised that demand for the service was so high among businesses, who see robotaxis as a low-cost way to get customers in the door. At launch, Waymo’s vans will ferry people to and from Phoenix-area Walmart stores, Avis rental agencies and AutoNation car dealerships, a service that debuted earlier this year.
“This is a whole other channel of demand we really hadn’t thought deeply about that could end up being a really significant driver of business,” he said.
