Waymo is preparing to begin self-driving taxi service in North Carolina, with technicians spending about a year creating a map of Charlotte streets.
Rich Harrington, a senior policy advisor for Waymo, said the company has moved into the next phase of testing.
“The next step is having a human specialist behind the wheel, allowing the vehicle to kind of drive around itself and really build that database that's going to make it so important for us to operate in Charlotte,” Harrington said.
Harrington spoke at a North Carolina Department of Transportation summit last month.
He said Waymo is also in discussions with cities in the Triangle region.
The Raleigh City Council recently approved plans for a downtown parking deck designed to serve self-driving vehicles.