Feb. 19, 2018—Waymo recently drew closer to officially launching, when it received the approval of Arizona authorities to operate as a Transportation Network Company, or TNC.
Having a TNC license allows Waymo to begin operating as a business. Waymo, the self-driving car unit operated by Google, has been testing a driverless ride-hailing service in the Phoenix area since April.
Arizona has already granted TNC status to Uber and Lyft, which allows them to license vehicles for hire, according to a New York Post report. A TNC license doesn’t differentiate between human-driving vehicles and autonomous vehicles, a spokesman told the newspaper.
A Waymo spokesperson declined to put a start date on the autonomous service. However, experts regard Waymo as the frontrunner in the self-driving battle, because it has more than 4 million test miles—far more than any competing company.
