AV Ridehailing - Some Actual Announcements, Some Not

Ever since New Year's there's been a deluge of autonomous vehicle (AV) news. Between the broken arm (was a bummer, but not too bad) and the ton of news, it's taken me a while to read through everything and I have yet to sift through the legislative and other developments at the state level.

See my post about the details of the requests for comments from FTA, FHWA, and NHTSA. Submit early and often.  You have until early March to share your thoughts with these agencies and to contribute to the public record.

AV ridehailing shifting to actual AVs and to more cities

Yes, Uber, Lyft, and Waymo have been testing and piloting AVs for a long time. Now announcements are fast and furious that the driver - also known as the AV engineer or attendant - will be ditched altogether for some ridehailing trips in particular locations.

There's also lots of news about geographic expansions to Atlanta, Boston and unnamed cities.

Waymo is heading to Atlanta to supply rides in a car-oriented, congested city with good weather. No word on ditching the drivers - yet. According to the TechCrunch post, Atlanta is thrilled and touting its bona fides as a city with lots of smart people to work for hi-tech firms. Waymo is already in the Phoenix area - the first car-oriented, congested city with good weather to see AVs.

In December, Boston saw more activity with the Lyft-nuTonomy announcement of AV ridehailing, though with a driver in the car. AV rides will only be available in the South Street Seaport area for now. This month Lyft also pushed forward with a partnership with Aptiv to bring AV ridehailing to the CES conference in Las Vegas, the experiment being continued beyond the conference. This partnership is flirting with us by way of a statement about expanding to another city, as yet unnamed.

What? When?

Boston will soon add another AV operation: Optimus Ride has received approval to transport passengers in AVs and will soon do so in the Marine Park area. Optimus Ride is a local startup out of MIT. Date unspecified and actual type of operation unspecified as well.

“There are places people definitely need to go, and there’s definitely a first- and last-mile problem,” said Ryan Chin, chief executive officer of Optimus Ride. “The Silver Line isn’t really cutting it at many times of the day. I think there’s an opportunity to rethink that.”

No hands, no feet, no human, no dates

Uber announced it is nearing - no date declared - AV ridehailing "without human backup drivers." Really like a pre-engagment: Are you intending to marry, in which case you are actually engaged, or are you just thinking about  it? The same Denver Post article reported that GM made the same vague statement, also without a clue of a date or location.

Waymo, however, is already testing - sans driver - in the Phoenix area. Apparently Waymo has been operating without a human in some AVs since October. At an as yet unspecified date, the company will invite normal people to ride.