Fully Driverless Is Finally Arriving

At least seven self-driving projects have now demonstrated driverless

Yesterday, I shared a meaningful moment we recorded at Voyage a few months ago. The video features our G3 robotaxi fully autonomously completing a trip with no Safety Driver behind the wheel. You can read more of the details here.

This trip was recorded at our Testing Grounds in an engineering version of our G3 robotaxi. Our fleet of production G3 robotaxis are soon to hit the (public) road—returning independence to many seniors who struggle with driving. What’s special about the G3—and why we feel comfortable removing the Safety Driver here—is the comprehensive suite of safety systems. Before we hit public road, we are validating all of these systems (including our self-driving A.I. Commander, our reliable backup system Shield, and our novel approach to remote assistance Telessist). What’s included in this video is a meaningful step forward in that important process.

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The First Wave of Driverless is Here

It’s been a remarkable few weeks in self-driving. In addition to Voyage, a number of self-driving projects announced their own versions of removing the Safety Driver:

• Cruise beginning driverless testing in San Francisco

• Zoox recieving a permit to test vehicles without a Safety Driver in Foster City

• AutoX announced testing of fully driverless cars within a designated area of Shanghai

• Hyundai-backed Motional recieiving a permit to test vehicles without a Safety Driver in Nevada

• Nuro announced fully unmanned deliveries in their R2 vehicle

This is in addition to Waymo and their deployment of commercial driverless.

All of this activity is incredibly energizing, and reminds me of a now famous Bill Gates quote: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.”