The mayor of Phoenix took a ride in a driverless car in a show of support for the state’s autonomous driving testing entities.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego rode in a driverless car, according to a video Waymo posted to its YouTube channel on Monday.
Gallego took a rider-only trip, meaning no one was behind the wheel. In the video, she presses the start button. The video shows the wheel turning and the vehicle changing speeds.
Praising the service in the video, at one point, Gallego notes that she can see pedestrians at three corners of an intersection and ten cars nearby.
“That’s a lot for a human to process but no problem for the Waymo driver,” she said in the video.
After the ride, Gallego also praised the driverless vehicle for having the potential to make Phoenix a more inclusive city.
“I enjoyed my trip through downtown very much,” Gallego said. “It was fun to watch the wheel turn itself and navigate the city. I’m excited to have an advanced technology that is clean and sustainable. I also hope it will make us a more inclusive city. There are many people in this community who can’t drive or choose not to. We want them to be able to go everywhere they want to. I really enjoyed working with Waymo. We’ve talked about: how do we design cities knowing that rider-only vehicles are going to become increasingly popular.”
Gallego’s ride was a part of Waymo’s Trusted Tester program. The program uses electric Jaguar I-Pace cars.
In May, Waymo began offering test rides in driverless vehicles in downtown Phoenix. However, a safety driver would sit behind the wheel in case something went wrong. Now, however, these test rides include completely solo rides without anyone sitting behind the wheel.
The push for autonomous vehicles in Arizona has been going on for years. Arizona governor Doug Ducey signed an executive order in 2015 outlining the state’s process for the development and testing of autonomous vehicles. Two years later, he signed a bill into law allowing the testing of truck platooning on Arizona highways, according to the state’s Department of Public Transportation.
Rides from self-driving vehicles have existed in the East Valley area of Arizona since 2017.
Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
