Waymo is in the final stages of bringing driverless vehicles to Tampa, but the company may already be eyeing an expansion across the bay.
Waymo, owned by Google-parent company Alphabet, told St. Petersburg city officials that it is interested in bringing its self-driving cars to Pinellas County, said Samantha Bequer, a city spokesperson.
Bequer said the company met with the city’s transportation department on Aug. 11. A Waymo spokesperson did not immediately answer a request for comment confirming the plans.
Waymo moving into St. Petersburg is yet another sign that the era of self-driving cars has made it to Tampa Bay. Just last month, Tesla’s Robotaxis began picking up passengers in some areas of Tampa.
Waymo is only open to Alphabet employees in Tampa for now but the public will be able to hail rides later this year. Waymo dispatched its fleet of vehicles to scour and map the streets of Tampa in December.
Waymo’s unmanned vehicles offer rides to passengers in 11 cities with plans to launch service in 21 more, both around the country and the world.
The cars rely on cameras, radars and audio sensors to chauffeur riders around. They are also equipped with “LiDAR,” which uses laser pulses to measure distances. The information from the hardware is fed into software which then allows the cars to operate without a driver.
Tesla’s Robotaxis, on the other hand, use a camera-only approach to operate its cars.
Regardless of their different methodologies, both companies have fielded questions about their safety. Waymo cars caused traffic jams in San Francisco and blocked an ambulance responding to a mass shooting in Austin.
But Waymo argues its autonomous vehicles are one way to shrink the number of accidents caused by human error every year.
“The Waymo Driver is always alert, follows speed limits, promotes seat belt use, and operates some of the safest vehicles on the road,” the company’s website reads.
Waymo cars were involved in 68% fewer crashes reported to law enforcement than human drivers in the cities they already operate in, according to a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
