Waymo will provide self-driving service in Los Angeles

Beijing, October 20 (Xinhua)-- Waymo announced on Wednesday that it will extend the self-driving ride-hailing service Waymo One to Los Angeles. When will it be officially launched? It's not clear yet. Currently, the Waymo One service is only available to the public in the East Valley area of Phoenix.

"Los Angeles stands out when we think about the next batch of cities," said Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo. "Los Angeles is an extraordinary and dynamic place, Waymo has a lot of experience, and we are in a good position to deal with complex driving."

Waymo cars have entered Los Angeles and are collecting map data. In the process of collection, when the driver drives the car across the street, the sensor will automatically collect all kinds of information.

After the official service, the Waymo car will still have a safe driver behind the steering wheel, and then it will provide services to Waymo employees until it gets permission and gathers enough feedback before it will open the test to the public.

The self-driving industry has been slow to deliver on its promises, especially at Waymo.

Waymo, which has been around for 12 years, launched a ride-hailing service in Phoenix in 2018, but progress has been slow outside the East Valley area. In the early years, Waymo boasted frequently. For example, in 2017, CEO John Krafcik, a former CEO of Waymo, said: "the real self-driving car is coming, not in 2020, but today."

Morgan Stanley cut its Waymo valuation by 40% in 2019, from $175 billion to $105 billion, and Morgan Stanley said it underestimated Waymo's reliance on human drivers.

Last August, Waymo announced that it would enter San Francisco, but driverless cars are still equipped with safe drivers and are not open to the public. Only approved test participants can ride them. In March this year, Waymo announced that it would "abandon" safe drivers, the real reality of self-driving, but passengers are limited to Waymo employees.

Anthony Lewandowski, co-founder of Waymo's self-driving project, said earlier this month that the industry was making slow progress and that self-driving could not become a viable business in the short term. He stressed that the industry still has a long way to go.

Waymo raised $2.25 billion in March 2020, the first time the company has raised money from an outside company. By July 2020, the amount of financing will have increased to US $3.2 billion. Last year, Waymo raised another $2.5 billion from a wide range of investors, including Waymo parent companies Google and Andreessen Horowitz.