Waymo, Valley Metro work to close transportation gaps

A partnership between a self-driving vehicle technology company and a local transit agency is spelling out big changes for the future of Valley roads.

Waymo partnered with Valley Metro throughout much of 2020 to conduct a research study on self-driving cars, with a little help from the research experts at Arizona State University. Valley Metro received a federal grant from the Federal Transit Administration several years ago to explore ways to close the transit mobility gaps in Phoenix’s fastpaced and car-driven culture.

Waymo proved to be the perfect partner with its emphasis on safety in autonomous vehicles. “We came to Waymo, especially because there was a lot of overlap in their safety culture, and that was really important to us,” said Joe Gregory, Valley Metro’s Manager of Service Planning and GIS. “Anytime we’re putting our riders out there, we want to really make sure that they are safe, so that was a really big priority for us.”