Waymo now testing its self-driving cars on public roads with no one at the wheel
&gt;&gt;&gt; &quot;Waymo will be operating a fully autonomous ride hailing service without any humans at the wheel ... Waymo wants to broaden the geographic scope of its trial, starting with expansion in the near-term to cover the entire Phoenix metro area, which represents more acreage than the whole of the Greater London area, he noted&quot;<p>My family is mostly in Tempe &#x2F; Mesa area (near Chandler, AZ) and during my last few visits I&#x27;ve seen an increasing number of these autonomous (driver-at-the-wheel) cars on the streets.  Note that Uber &#x2F; Lyft also are very popular in the area.<p>Waymo&#x27;s transition to a general-public&#x2F;driverless service in the whole Phoenix area will be the first time that automated ride-hailing services go up against human-driven ride-hailing services.  This will be a very interesting and perhaps disturbing experiment.  I predict Waymo will price their service competitively, will ramp up to a large fleet, and that after a few months Uber &#x2F; Lyft will be in trouble.  The public will accept the perceived risks in driverless rides.<p>Over a longer term it will be interesting to see what impact there is on car-buying, congestion ... I wonder whether Waymo will provide ride-sharing as well.<p>EDIT:  clarification; ride-sharing; car market; traffic congestion.  ( Hmmm, also adding that &quot;... after a few months Uber &#x2F; Lyft will be in trouble&quot; is probably too compressed, it realistically will take a longer time. )