Authored by Dylan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Two Alphabet-owned companies, Waymo and Waze, announced on April 9 that they will team up to detect potholes and share that information with local government agencies to help get them filled more efficiently.
“Waymo is already making roads safer where we operate,“ said Arielle Fleisher, the company’s policy development and research manager, in a statement. ”We want to build on the safety benefits of our service by partnering with organizations and city officials to help improve the infrastructure we all depend on.”
Waymo, which started out as a Google self-driving car project in 2009 and spun out into its own company under Alphabet in 2016, said the pothole program was inspired from feedback it gathered from city officials over the years and is intended to fill reporting gaps.
Waymos are covered with cameras and sensors. The company said it will use its feedback systems to detect potholes and share that information through Waze’s platform, which users will be able to verify.
Waze, a GPS navigation app that lets drivers alert others with live updates, was acquired by Alphabet-subsidiary Google in 2013 for around $1.1 billion.
“This pilot program with Waymo adds another source of data to that effort, giving cities a clearer picture of road conditions through our Waze for Cities platform. It’s a great example of how working together helps our community and makes our roads better for everyone,” Waze Strategic Partner Manager Andrew Stober said.
Waze and Waymo will launch the pilot program in five areas—the San Francisco Bay Area, where the two companies are headquartered in Mountain View, as well as the Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta metro areas.
“We appreciate the collaboration with Waymo and Waze as we explore how technology can help identify issues like potholes faster so we can respond more efficiently,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement. “We’re always looking for innovative ways to deliver better services for residents.”
Waymo said it has already identified around 500 potholes in these locations and will work to expand the program to more cities it serves.
Alongside these five locations, Waymo also operates in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, and San Antonio.
The Nashville location is the newest addition, as Waymo started allowing users in Nashville on a rolling basis on April 7. The company also announced in February that it will expand to Charlotte, Chicago, and Sacramento, where it has released its fleet to begin gathering data on Sacramento’s streets.