ATLANTA — Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that a person will be behind the wheel during the autonomous drive.
Some new technology is headed to the streets of Atlanta. Waymo, a self-driving car company, is now testing its robotaxis in Atlanta.
Waymo announced that it began testing the autonomous vehicles on Atlanta's streets on Tuesday, expanding its footprint to another major market.
Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp told 11Alive that a handful of cars will be deployed and driven manually by a human driver for the next few months in order to familiarize themselves with Atlanta's environment and gather mapping data.
"We will initially be driving at all hours of the day in various neighborhoods around Atlanta, including Downtown, Georgia Tech, the Westside, Midtown, Piedmont Heights, and Virginia Highland," Karp said.
Karp said there will be a person behind the wheel the entire time, even when the vehicle is driving autonomously.
While the company will test the vehicles in Atlanta, there are no plans to launch a rider program in the city, according to Karp. Instead, Waymo is focused on developing its currently operating ride services in other cities like San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin.
In Georgia, there isn't much language surrounding the regulation of autonomous vehicles (AVs) outside of the state's minimal risk conditions, so Waymo's operations are perfectly legal in the eyes of state law. In fact, Governor Brian Kemp welcomes the self-driving car company to Georgia's roadways.
"Georgia remains on the cutting edge of a full range of industries that will provide the jobs of tomorrow, and we’re proud to welcome Waymo as a part of that growing list," Kemp said.
Although self-driving tech represents great strides in the future of automobiles, safety issues still raise concerns.
In February, Waymo recalled its robotaxi software after two vehicles crashed into a pickup truck in Phonix. In June of 2023, a Waymo robotaxi also hit and killed a dog, according to a report with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Waymo previously tested its vehicles in Atlanta back in 2018, as part of the company's pilot program.
