Uber said in a statement Thursday that passengers in the Phoenix metro area who request an UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort, or Uber Comfort Electric may be matched with a Waymo vehicle for “a fully autonomous ride, with no human driver behind the wheel.”
“Today is an important step in our journey to bring safe, reliable autonomous driving technology to the Uber platform,” the company said. “Looking ahead, we expect that the number of human drivers and AVs on the Uber platform will continue to grow, side by side, for quite a long time as we continue to scale a hybrid, global network that combines both.”
The move comes just days after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s permits to operate driverless taxis in San Francisco due to “an unreasonable risk to public safety,” after a string of safety complaints and pedestrian injuries prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation.