Waymo is pulling the human safety driver out of its recently expanded robotaxi operations in downtown Phoenix, Dmitri Dolgov, co-CEO of Waymo, announced on the TechCrunch Sessions: Mobility stage on Wednesday.

"We will be starting fully autonomous, rider-only operations in the downtown Phoenix area that will...be on the fifth generation of our system on the Jaguar I-PACEs," said Dolgov.

The news comes less than two months after the self-driving unit of Alphabet announced the expansion of its drivered robotaxi service from the East Valley of Phoenix into the city’s downtown area. At the time, Waymo also said it had opened up driverless rides for employees in San Francisco.

Waymo simulator downtown phoenix. Image Credits: Waymo

Employees were also the first to receive autonomous rides in downtown Phoenix with a human safety operator, but last week, Waymo opened that up to its “trusted testers.” Driverless rides in the area will only be available for employees for the time being, but Waymo said it will make that program available to members of the public in the coming weeks.

Waymo has been testing in Phoenix since 2016, and began offering a fully autonomous public ride-hail service there in 2020. This milestone serves to deepen the company’s roots in the city, where it currently has a dominant position in the robotaxi market.

Driverless operations in downtown Phoenix will kick off in the northeast part of the area and gradually ramp up operations into all of Waymo’s trusted tester territory, which covers central Phoenix, including downtown, midtown and south central, according to a Waymo spokesperson.

Waymo's initial Trusted Tester service area in Downtown Phoenix. Image Credits: Waymo

In addition to opening up driverless pilots in downtown Phoenix, Waymo says it’s beginning to drive at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport with an autonomous specialist present. Waymo’s fleet of Jaguar I-PACEs will drive autonomously at the airport 24/7, with operations focused on the area around 44th Street PHX Sky Train Station, which is near the pickup and drop-off location for other ride-hail services, according to Waymo.