Waymo’s autonomous cars don’t need humans in the driver’s seat anymore

More than eight years after it began, Waymo, the company spun out of Google X’s self-driving car project, believes its technology is ready to take to public roads as a fully self-driving car — without anyone in the driver’s seat.

Waymo’s fleet of autonomous vehicles is now prepared to drive on public roads without a safety operator, according to CEO John Krafcik, who announced the development onstage at the Web Summit in Lisbon. 

The company also shared some details about the expansion of its pilot program in a blog post. Neither Krafcik nor the company’s reps shared exactly what has given the company the confidence to declare their vehicles “fully” self-driving, but it appears that Waymo has achieved Level 4 autonomy, which means the car can handle every aspect of the driving experience on its own without need for human intervention. Most other companies currently conducting self-driving tests are only at Level 3, a level that still requires a human operator for some (if not most) situations.   Read more…

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