Although Waymo’s Robotaxi has been making headlines for several wrong reasons in the recent past, whether getting stuck in floodwaters with passengers on board or blocking emergency vehicles, the company has not been affected by setbacks.
Credit where it is due, Waymo has come a long way from being opposed by many to expanding its operations in multiple cities and even hitting the freeway in select locations.
Now, though, the brand has taken a big step by acquiring a large 5,500-acre proving ground in Arizona from Route 14 Investment Partners LLC, a Delaware shell company associated with Apple, for a whopping $220 million, according to the filing.
Waymo will use its new proving ground to simulate driving scenarios to test and enhance the performance of its autonomous driving system.
More Testing For Waymo Amid Aggressive Expansion
According to a report by TechCrunch, the purchase is an addition to Waymo’s numerous test courses, including the Transportation Research Center in Ohio and the Castle Proving Ground in California. However, neither of the two is as large as the new addition in Arizona.
The new proving ground features several courses to simulate different kinds of driving conditions. The facility includes a 115-acre city course designed to simulate urban driving, in addition to a 35-acre vehicle dynamics area, a four-mile oval track, and a freeway course to test its robotaxis for real-world freeways.
Overall, the new facility will “support rider-only testing, motion control testing, operational training workflows, and future testing expansion over time.”
The $220 million purchase arrives amid Waymo’s fleet expansion, which now includes the Zeekr van that recently began operations. The vans are sent to Waymo’s Arizona factory, where they are fitted with the company’s self-driving system. Waymo plans to add thousands of robotaxis every year, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Since beginning its robotaxi operations in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler back in 2017, Waymo has expanded to more than 10 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Atlanta.
The company aims to expand further in the Phoenix metropolitan area, including a new Tempe office, and aims to deploy next-generation robotaxis in the city.
Hot 8 Yoga Thief Had So Much Faith in Waymo He Used it to Flee
In other news about Waymo, Guessing Headlights recently reported how a Hot 8 Yoga thief used a Waymo Robotaxi as a getaway car. He completed his job in just three minutes, stealing some shorts from the store before placing the stolen items in the Waymo’s trunk and escaping the autonomous vehicle.
The case was definitely a first for the San Francisco police, which issued a search warrant that led Waymo to hand over the account details of the suspect who ordered the ride and used the robotaxi as a getaway car.
However, Sgt. Tim Faye said the account information did not lead the police to the thief. Speaking of the video evidence, Waymo no longer had the vehicle’s interior footage by the time the search warrant was filed four months later, in April.
In the interest of privacy, the faces of the people who were outside the car had been blurred, otherwise, the suspect could have been identified in the footage that recorded him entering the robotaxi. The company did not reveal for how long it saves the footage. Faye said:
“It’s highly unusual in the first place that a Waymo is even used by a suspect. It was disappointing that the internal video was not able to lead to the recognition of a suspect.”
Waymo confirmed that it does not use facial recognition or biometric data to identify people. A company spokesperson said Waymo will push back against requests from the police when necessary to protect rider privacy.
The studio manager of Hot 8 Yoga, Farah Issa, had a video that shows the suspect arriving in a Waymo, performing the theft while the Waymo waited outside for him, and then sitting in the robotaxi minutes before the vehicle left the location. She said:
“I thought it was quite funny. He just stole a bunch of men’s shorts.”
Now, though, with the trail growing cold, it remains to be seen whether San Francisco police will be able to make an arrest in the case.