Forget taxis, Ubers and jitneys — Pittsburghers could soon hail a car without a human at the wheel. Waymo, the autonomous ride hailing company, announced on Tuesday that they’re rolling into Downtown Pittsburgh.
Waymo plans to start testing their vehicles with drivers behind the wheel in Downtown core starting this week, according to a blog post on Waymo’s website. The company plans to “validate their technology” over the next few months with the goal of offering the service to the public in the future.
Pittsburgh is one of the latest batch of cities including Baltimore and Washington D.C. to get a look at the autonomous white cabs. Right now, riders can hail one of Waymo’s driverless taxis in several cities across the U.S. including San Francisco and Los Angeles. Earlier this year, the company began testing their taxis on the streets of Philadelphia.
Autonomous vehicles are legal in the state, but in order to do so, companies must get permission from Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Waymo would need to obtain a certificate of compliance from PennDOT, specific to the locations it plans to run in the Pittsburgh area, before they pull the safety driver.
Waymo began as Google’s self-driving car company and already has a small team located in Pittsburgh.