Portland the Latest City to Consider Waymo Driverless Taxis-Or Not.

   What's keeping Portland from allowing, at least BETA testing, of driverless Waymo Taxis?

   Waymo Began 15 years ago As Part of Google

Waymo grew out of the 2009-2010 Google driverless vehicle project.  Since then the company has grown extensively.  San Francisco, LA, Phoenix, Austin, Texas and Atlanta.  It's also been said to be coming soon in Vegas, San Diego, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, Miami and WA DC.

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It's being kicked around in Seattle and Minnepolis, St. Louis and few other cities.

  Why is Portland Hesitant?

It's not just a matter of allowing these vehicles on city streets. There's liability questions, and engineering and mapping that would require extensive digital and GPS technological work.  And, the human 'factor,'   Many citizens and Officials are hesitant to get in a vehicle without a driver in the front seat.

  According to Axios, many cities don't have any laws on the books governing autonomous vehicles.

Self-driving vehicles are allowed for private citizens in about half the country, but public transit is another matter. There can also be hesitation from public Officials.

Axios and other sources are reporting Seattle and Minneapolis are considering ordinances that would ban such transportation services.  If robot taxis were to operate in New York and Washington D.C. the laws would have to be modified. Those cities require a human to be behind the wheel, regardless of self-driving capabilities or not.

Portland is one of the cities without a set of ordinances to govern driverless taxis.

 What Kind of Vehicles Does Waymo use?

Waymo currently operates 2,500 driverless vehicles, most of them are Jaguar I-PACE all electric cars, along with Zeekr and Hyundai Ioniq 5 Models.

READ More:  Here's what's holding up driverless cars in Seattle

They used to use a large number of Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids but they have been phased out.