If you live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, you might be able to take Alphabet’s self-driving car to work or school every day. The company has launched an early test of its fleet of Lexus and Chrysler robot cars in Arizona, allowing a limited number of applicants to ride in the cars as frequently as possible at no cost.
Alphabet is signing up the first test riders for its self driving cars
As part of the limited test, Phoenix residents are encouraged to use the cars as frequently as possible.
Waymo
This is the first test of its kind for Waymo, the newly formed Alphabet subsidiary formerly known as Google’s self-driving car project. Previously, the company only had trained drivers testing its vehicles on public roads.
It’s also one of the only public trials of autonomous vehicles of its kind in the U.S. While Uber rolled out commercial tests of its cars long before Waymo, the ride-hail company doesn’t guarantee that the car a customer hails will be autonomous and they still have to pay for it.
Waymo, on the other hand, already has families of early riders who use the cars to get to and from work and school as well as after-school activities, according to the site. The early riders will be using an app that Waymo is developing to hail the vehicles.
To be eligible, applicants have to be 18 or older and live and plan to travel within the Phoenix metropolitan area. Early riders are asked to give feedback on their experience.
In its attempt to edge out Silicon Valley as the center of innovation, Arizona has been a huge proponent of autonomous technology. The state’s governor, Doug Ducey, invited Uber to bring its fleet of self-driving Volvos to Phoenix after the ride-hail company initially sparred with the California DMV over acquiring a public testing permit.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
