In Phoenix Arizona Lyft customers will soon be able to hail a Waymo self-driving minivan

(May 8) Lyft customers in the Phoenix Arizona area will soon be able to hail a Waymo self-driving minivan for a ride, the company announced yesterday. This is the culmination of a partnership that began almost exactly two years ago.

Development represents an advance for ride-hailing and autonomous vehicles

In the beginning only 10 minivans will be available on Lyft's haling app in a handful of suburbs around Phoenix. Lyft riders will have the option on their app of selecting a ride in a Waymo self-driving vehicle. However, there will be safety drivers behind the wheel. Even though the development appears limited it nevertheless represents a significant advance for both the development of ride-hailing but also of self-driving vehicles.

Lyft is also facilitating trips in the tech company Aptiv's self-driving cars in Las Vegas. Waymo, a spinoff from Google or Alphabet has been mapping streets in Phoenix suburbs for two year now and is seen as having some of the best autonomous driving technology available at present.

Development announced two years back

The Waymo Lyft partnership was announced last May 18 with Waymo saying: “We’re looking forward to working with Lyft to explore new self-driving products that will make our roads safer and transportation more accessible. Lyft’s vision and commitment to improving the way cities move will help Waymo’s self-driving technology reach more people, in more places.”

Lyft's statement at the time also made positive promises: “We can confirm that we are partnering with Waymo to safely and responsibly launch self-driving vehicle pilots. Waymo holds today’s best self-driving technology, and collaborating with them will accelerate our shared vision of improving lives with the world’s best transportation.”

Other Waymo self-driving hailing projects in the Phoenix area

Waymo is already running two projects in the Phoenix area. Waymo One has carried over 1,000 riders to school, work, or shoppers. Secondly, it has an early rider program that requires participants to sign a nondisclosure agreement before they can experience riding in some of the company's latest updates. Waymo One is only available to these former early riders but there is no nondisclosure agreement required.

Terms of the new agreement were not revealed

No one knows how Waymo and Lyft are sharing fares or dealing with customer service issues. In 2017 Alphabet's (Google) invested $ 1 billion in Lyft. The new deal will allow those not involved in its early rider program to participate for the first time.

Waymo CEO, John Krafcik said: “This first step in our partnership will allow us to introduce the Waymo Driver to Lyft users, enabling them to take what for many will be their first ride in a self-driving vehicle.We’re committed to continuously improving our customer experience, and our partnership with Lyft will also give our teams the opportunity to collect valuable feedback.”

Previously  published in the Digital Journal

Ford Motor Co. testing self-driving vans in Miami Florida

Ford has been using the city of Miami as a site to test its self-driving vehicles since earlier this year. Recently the company joined forces with Postmates to research how people will react and interact with deliveries by autonomous delivery vans.

 

How the delivery works

As things are now, the delivery driver knocks on your door and delivers your order and you pay.

In an autonomous delivery you are given an access code that you use to open a tiny locker in the delivery van to get your order.

The lockers vary in size to accommodate different size orders. There are audio prompts and light displays to ensure that you are guided to the locker where you order is located.

Many businesses involved

The pilot project is underway both in Miami and Miami Beach. Over 70 businesses are involved with both restaurants and hardware stores taking part. For now, the autonomous vehicles are not actually operating autonomously but are manually operated by human drivers. The vans are just testing different methods of food delivery. However, Ford plans a fully autonomous delivery service by 2021. Ford said: “Ultimately, we are testing how businesses and consumers interact with a self-driving vehicle."

Tests were made earlier in Ann Arbor Michigan

Last year, in late August, Ford teamed up with Domino's Pizza to equip delivery cars with a Heatwave Compartment to keep pizzas warm. Customers who use the service are given a unique code by phone matching the last four digits of their phone number that can be used to unlock the compartment when the delivery car arrives. Customers can track their order through a Domino's app. Information is displayed through screens and speakers on the exterior of the cars. These cars were all driven manually but Ford said that it hoped eventually to have thousands of the self-driving cars in the city.

Ford is currently building a completely autonomous vehicle that will not even have traditional controls. It plans to release the vehicle by 2021.

Food delivery workers, as with truck drivers and taxi drivers, may in time see their jobs disappear as they are replaced by self-driving vehicles which will take over their duties.

The two pilot projects are shown on the appended videos.

Previously published in Digital Journal