WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Alphabet self-driving unit Waymo on Tuesday defended its use of remote assistance personnel in the face of questions from Congress and said they have never been used to move robotaxis in U.S. on-road operations.
Waymo told Democratic Senator Ed Markey in a letter that it has not used remote driving or “tele-operations” to perform driving tasks. In rare circumstances, some U.S.-based personnel could prompt a stopped AV to move forward at 2 mph (3 kph) for a short distance to exit the travel lane but that has not happened outside of training.
