Over the last few years, Arizona has become “ground zero” for the testing of Autonomous Vehicles right in the backyard of ON Semiconductor’s Corporate Headquarters. It is such a regular occurrence to see test vehicles from Waymo, Nuro and more with their rather bulbous radar and LiDAR domes on our streets that they rarely merit a second glance.
In 2015 Arizona became a new playground for autonomous test vehicles to gather data with the help of the Governor of Arizona implementing an executive order, welcoming autonomous vehicles to hit the roads across the valley thus inviting new business and technology into local communities.
We regularly see announcements about progress in introducing new ways for our local community to experience these test vehicles as we move closer and closer to seeing fully autonomous vehicles on our Arizona roads. During the summer Walmart announced a program whereby shoppers could order their goods online, have a Waymo car pick them up at their homes and take them to the local Walmart store where a smiling employee would deliver the goods directly to the car.
In the interest of science, during week one of the program I went to the location that was testing this service expecting to see a fleet of cars pulling up in reserved parking spots and employees walking up to them with fully loaded shopping carts. The reality was that the Waymo cars had to fight for a parking space like everyone else and the shopper had to walk to the pickup area in the back of the store to collect their purchase. Still, that was early days and if I went back today, the process may have evolved. I noticed last week that Walmart had announced a partnership with Ford to test having groceries delivered directly to customer’s home via autonomous vehicles which would be the natural next evolution.
So why is Arizona such a hotbed of development for testing autonomous vehicles? Well, no doubt a lot has to do with the year-round cloudless, sunny and dry weather along with a road network laid out in grids making navigation easier. But it could also be due to the presence in the valley of leaders in the development of components and systems that enable this technology, such as ON Semiconductor.
At ON Semiconductor, we are a leader in sensors for cars offering leading-edge image, radar and LiDAR solutions. From E-Mirror ADAS to park assist to collision avoidance our solutions are enabling these features you are seeing in cars today and it is only the beginning.
Learn more about the Viewing, ADAS and Autonomous Vehicle Solutions ON Semiconductor has to offer or watch our behind the scenes video of an ON Semiconductor autonomous test vehicle in action.
