Skip to main content

Waymo scraps AV operations in Austin

Waymo is closing its operations in the US city of Austin following an increase in investment in the Detroit and Phoenix areas. A spokesperson told Austin Inno: “As a result, we’ve decided to relocate all Austin positions to Detroit and Phoenix. We are working closely with employees, offering them the opportunity to transfer, as well as with our staffing partners to ensure everyone receives transition pay and relocation assistance.” Last month Waymo sent an email to users, which appeared on Reddit, saying
November 15, 2019 Read time: 1 min

Waymo is closing its operations in the US city of Austin following an increase in investment in the Detroit and Phoenix areas.

A spokesperson told Austin Inno: “As a result, we’ve decided to relocate all Austin positions to Detroit and Phoenix. We are working closely with employees, offering them the opportunity to transfer, as well as with our staffing partners to ensure everyone receives transition pay and relocation assistance.”

Last month Waymo sent an email to users, which appeared on Reddit, saying that it may start operating fully-autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Phoenix and Arizona without a safety driver.

Earlier this year, the company entered into an agreement to deploy 10 AVs on Lyft’s platform to serve as a ride-hailing service in the Metro Phoenix area.

Related Content

  • Autonomous vehicles: threat or opportunity for urban mobility?
    January 17, 2017
    According to a new position paper from the International Association Of Public Transport (UITP), autonomous vehicles (AVs) will lead to a dystopian future of even more private car traffic on the road unless they are put to use in shared fleets and integrated with traditional public transport services. The paper, ‘Autonomous vehicles: a potential game changer for urban mobility,’ indicates that, despite the risk of increased congestion due to car travel becoming even more comfort
  • US state of the art workzone safety
    January 25, 2012
    The Texas Transportation Institute's Jerry Ullman talks about the state of the art in work zone safety in the US. Work zones are places where, perhaps more than anywhere else on the road network, mobility and safety are strongly linked. Historically, field crews and contractors wanted vehicles in work zones to be moving as slowly as possible, assuming that made conditions the safest for work crews. We are though starting to see a shift in such thinking with the realisation that excessive delays or slow-down
  • Ford to triple investment in semi-autonomous cars
    February 23, 2016
    Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Ford president and CEO Mark Fields said that the company will triple engineering investment in driver assist technology, speeding the roll-out of semi automated systems that make it easier to park and drive in heavy traffic as the company continues to expand its Ford Smart Mobility plan. Fields’ keynote at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona focused on Ford’s transition from an automotive company to an auto and a mobility company through Ford Smart Mobil
  • Nexar helps cities plan road improvements
    August 24, 2021
    Workzones generally unreported to mapping services, says Nexar