Waymo begins autonomous testing without 'safety driver'

Waymo has announced that a fleet of Chrysler Pacifica people movers has been conducting full autonomous driving testing without any human behind the wheel since October.

The revelation that Waymo’s experimental autonomous vehicles are driving on public roads in the US state of Arizona without a human 'safety driver' to intervene comes after more than eight years of continuous testing, says the autonomous Google-owned tech company.

A Waymo employee will remain in the vehicle for now but, instead of sitting in the front seat, the human supervisor perches in the second row behind the driver's seat.

Waymo says it has not ruled out completely human-free testing in the future.

Instead of having free reign to travel on all Arizona's roads, the fully autonomous Pacificas operate within a 'geofenced' region of around 160-square kilometres.

As cars collect more and more data and conduct more successful collision-free journeys, the region will be expanded.

To help build confidence among future users of driverless taxis, Waymo says it will offer members of the public the opportunity to experience the technology.

Waymo attributed its success to not only the early work in driverless cars by Google employees, but also its partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, ride share company Lyft and rental car company Avis.

Within the wider industry, Waymo's confident declaration that it has already achieved full 'Level 4' autonomy for driverless cars is seen as the holy grail among cars makers. The fact it has taken Waymo, with all Google's resources, eight years to achieve it will be more than concerning for its competitors.

Recently Waymo released a report that detailed that its self-driving vehicles has completed 3.5 million miles on public roads and 2.5 billion miles on simulators.

Some have expressed doubt concerning Waymo's testing in Arizona. Unlike southern California, the neighbouring state doesn't require companies to disclose to the public crashes involving its cars.

Nor does Arizona require autonomous tech companies to disclose the number of times a human driver was forced to take over control of a driverless vehicle.