PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A new partnership between Waymo and Waze may help Phoenix-area officials identify and repair potholes more quickly.<\/p>\n
The two Google subsidiary companies announced a pilot program<\/a> that will send pothole data gathered by Waymo vehicles to local governments, giving cities another way to track road damage and respond faster.<\/p>\n Waymo said its vehicles already use perception and physical feedback systems to identify potholes in the parts of the Valley where they operate. <\/p>\n Under the new program, that data will be sent to cities and state transportation agencies through the free Waze for Cities<\/a> platform.<\/p>\n The alerts will also appear for Waze users, letting drivers help confirm reports while warning them about rough road conditions ahead.<\/p>\n Right now, Phoenix mainly identifies potholes through non-emergency calls to the Street Transportation Department, reports submitted through the myPHX311<\/a> portal and manual inspections.<\/p>\n Because that system depends heavily on resident complaints, city leaders may not always get a complete picture of road conditions, making it harder to prioritize repairs evenly across the Valley.<\/p>\n Waymo and Waze said the pilot was developed with input from current and former city officials and is designed to give Phoenix-area leaders another tool to monitor streets and highways and improve safety.<\/p>\n Phoenix is among the first five metro areas included in the program, along with the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin and Atlanta.<\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n