As we enter into the holiday season, this year’s delivery demand and the need for freight movement remains unprecedented, and Waymo Via will help fill critical needs for our partners during this time. That’s why we’re expanding our partnership with UPS to autonomous freight movement with Class 8 trucks, a natural next step following the strong and successful partnership we’ve had testing local delivery.

If you check the weather for San Francisco, there's a one third chance you’ll see clouds or fog in the forecast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). To ensure Waymo’s Trusted Testers can safely get where they are going, whether it’s to work in the misty morning or back home to a hazy Haight at night, we’re engineering the Waymo Driver to handle the challenges of fog.

Trucking is integral to American supply chains and the leading form of freight transportation. As demand for trucking continues to rise, Waymo Via, our autonomous goods delivery unit, represents an opportunity to support ongoing safety efforts in the industry and address the nationwide driver shortfall.

In this dynamic time, women hold key roles for Waymo Via, bringing their skills, insights, and experiences to shape the industry and the technology. We spoke with four women working across Waymo Via trucking to find out what they do day-to-day, how they made their way to the industry, and how they see the road ahead.

The Waymo Driver has tested in dozens of cities spanning a diverse range of climates and topographies. Starting tomorrow, we’ll build on these learnings as we begin to map in New York City for the first time.

Imagine you are driving through downtown San Francisco and a cyclist, traveling against the flow of traffic, cuts right in front of you. Or maybe you are navigating a narrow, two-way street with a car heading the opposite direction, and you nudge over for them to pass. Perhaps, you are driving late at night when an occluded worker pops out behind a truck, right into the middle of the street. These are just a few examples of the common yet complex scenarios the Waymo Driver encounters in cities like San Francisco.

Editor’s note: Today marks one year since we opened up Waymo One fully autonomous rides to any member of the public in Metro Phoenix. Since then, we’ve served tens of thousands of rider-only trips for thousands of riders, including John, who has taken more than 400 rides over the past year. Not only is this more than any other Waymo One rider has taken, it's also more fully autonomous rides than anyone in the world has ever done! With such an honor, we wanted to talk with him for our latest Why I Ride and hear more about how he feels about Waymo One, with one year and hundreds of trips under his belt.

When you think about the people behind the Waymo Driver, you might think of the engineers writing the software algorithms or developing our state-of-the-art hardware. But there’s another group that deserves a lot of credit too: our riders.