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The Google-backed company Waymo has been around for more than a decade with its robotaxi service. Today, they operate commercially in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. Miami and Washington are next on the list of cities for their ride-hailing service using robotaxis called Waymo One.
The GM-owned robotaxi service Cruise ceased operation in late 2024 in the United States, and many in the workforce had to leave. The remainder of the Cruise staff will focus on advanced driver assistance systems for GM’s products. Cruise challenges started when one Cruise robotaxi accidentally dragged a pedestrian 20 ft under the car in October 2023. The pedestrian had been hit by another car in the opposite lane and had been propelled into the lane of the Cruise vehicle, which in turn had failed to identify the oncoming pedestrian. Instead of coming to an emergency stop, the Cruise car continued driving, causing more injuries to the pedestrian.
At the same time, Amazon pours money into its ride-hailing business, called Zoox, which will launch later this year in Las Vegas. Zoox has developed a purpose-built AV for ride-hailing, unlike Waymo, which uses cars from the automaker Jaguar for their robotaxi service.
Full Article: IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, Volume 20, Number 3, September 2025
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