I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and articles claiming that Waymo’s robotaxis are being secretly controlled by teleoperators in the Philippines. The claims stem from a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week, during which a top Waymo executive told Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) that the company employs some remote operators overseas. But he was also clear that those operators aren’t actually controlling the vehicles. I watched all two hours of the hearing, and here’s what Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, had to say:
They do not remotely drive the vehicles. As you stated, Waymo asks for guidance in certain situations. And it’s an input, but the Waymo vehicle is always in charge of the dynamic driving tasks.
Now, as to some other robotaxi operators…
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