World's first robotaxi service launches next month

Google's autonomous driving division, Waymo, looks set to win the race to be the first company to launch a fully commercial self-driving taxi service.

According to

The first wave of customers will also likely be drawn from Waymo's Early Rider Program -- a test group of 400 volunteer families who have already been riding in development vehicles for more than a year.

New customers will then be gradually phased in, the tech company says.

Google's Waymo brand says it will also launch a new brand name for its robotaxi service.

Waymo hopes launching its robotaxi first first, ahead of rivals like Uber, will help it establish credibility and give it time to build up a network of vehicles and the infrastructure to support them.

The markets reacted to the news by valuing Waymo's unnamed ride-hailing service at $80 billion ($A110 billion) before a single commercial ride has taken place.

The news of Waymo launching its driverless ride-hailing service next month means it will  beat GM to market by almost a year.

Tesla, Daimler and Volkswagen are all set to launch similar services in 2020.

Despite supposedly 'self-driving', the commercial service launched by Waymo in December will have backup drivers in some cars to help ease customer fears.

That said, those Early Rider volunteers may receive cars with no backup drivers at all, says Waymo, as the company builds up to phasing out the on-board safety supervisors.

Waymo says it will rely on a fleet of heavily modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans that will drive themselves 99.9 per cent of the time.

Initially, pricing will be competitive with Uber and fellow ride-share app, Lyft, but once the supervisors are removed from the equation many suggest Waymo will offer unbeatable cut-throat pricing.

Waymo says it plans to roll out its commercial robotaxis to other US cities gradually concentrating on quieter urban areas first.