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Earlier this month, Waymo chief safety officer Mauricio Peña testified before the Senate Commerce Committee as part of a hearing to talk about autonomous vehicles.
Much of the questioning fell under the standard “let’s educate the public” category. But it was Sen. Ed Markey’s questions about overseas workers, and Peña’s response, that everyone paid attention to.
Peña, when asked about human workers who assist with Waymo vehicles’ navigation or emergencies, revealed that the company has remote guidance workers based overseas in the Philippines. This sparked some quick ire from Markey, who admonished Peña on how the company could rely on people without U.S. driver’s licenses to assist its vehicles on U.S. roads, among other criticisms.
Waymo formulated a response in a blog post written by Waymo’s head of global operations Ryan McNamara, which was published Tuesday. It has also shared the letter it sent to Markey’s office.
The post and letter do provide fresh insight about its remote-assistance operations. For instance, Waymo stresses it does not employ people who “remotely drive” the robotaxis. Instead, the self-driving systems are the ones in charge.
Remote assistance (RA) workers are there to respond to specific requests for information that the Waymo self-driving system asks for. The company also has Event Response Teams, or ERTs, people who are certified for more complex tasks and are exclusively based in the United States. This team responds to collisions, interfacing with law enforcement and the rider, collecting data for regulatory reporting, and coordinating towing, Waymo says.
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