Fact Check: Viral video showing driverless taxi service makes a false claim that it was launched in Chennai
San Francisco in the USA is the first city in the world where the first self-driving taxi was launched.
Driverless taxi service
San Francisco in the USA is the first city in the world where the first self-driving taxi was launched. Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet and Cruise, owned by General Motors, are offering paid rides in some cities in the USA.
A video showing an elderly woman speaking in Tamil, availing the self-driving taxi service is in circulation with the claim that it shows a driverless taxi service that has been started in Chennai.
The video shows the woman boarding the taxi and enjoying the taxi ride. She can be heard saying that the driverless taxi facility has been started for the first time in the world. The video is shared with the caption “*Driverless taxi service started first time in world in Chennai started yesterday. Enjoy the ride* ”
Fact Check :
The claim is false. Driverless taxi service has not been started in Chennai, India. The video is from the United States of America. The driverless taxi service is yet to be started in India.
When we searched for “Driverless Taxi Service, Chennai”, we found no news reports about the launch of any such service.
When observed carefully, we can see that the taxi was named ‘Waymo’, when searched for Waymo, we found their website mentioning that it’s the world’s first autonomous ride-hailing service. These taxis are presently operating in the cities – San Francisco and Phoenix. Services in Los Angeles and Austin are coming soon.
From the video, we can also see that the steering wheel is on the left side, which is a feature of vehicles in America, while in India the steering wheel is on the right.
Taking a cue from this, when we searched using the keywords “Driverless taxi in USA + Tamil”, we found the original video published by a YouTube channel named ASK INFORMATION about a month ago. The title of the video is “Driverless Taxi in the USA | அமெரிக்காவில் டிரைவர் இல்லாத
This claim was also debunked by Newschecker.in, who approached the product communications manager at Waymo and confirmed that their vehicles only operate in Phoenix; San Francisco Los Angeles, California; and Austin, Texas.
Therefore, the claim that a driverless taxi service has been started in Chennai and the viral video shows the same is false. The video is from the United States of America.