A video of an elderly woman speaking in Tamil while travelling in a driverless car has gone viral on social media, claiming that the first driverless taxi service in the world has started in Chennai.
A Facebook user shared this video and wrote: “Driverless taxi service, first time in the world, started in Chennai yesterday. Enjoy the ride.”
This Facebook post can be seen here.
It is being widely shared on Facebook and X with a similar claim.
FACT CHECK
NewMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be false.
It is to be noted that the steering wheel in the video was on the left side, while in India, it is on the right. It suggests that the video is not from India. Closely observing the video, the NM team noticed the company name “Waymo” written on the car. And Waymo is an American autonomous driving technology company, formerly known as the Google self-driving car project, and headquartered in California.
Our team also found the same visual on a YouTube channel ‘Ask Information’, dated September 08, 2023, with a title: “Driverless Taxi in the US, Driverless Taxi in America”, suggesting that the viral video is from US.
According to a report by CNBC, Uber recently partnered with Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, allowing people in Phoenix, Arizona to get free rides in its driverless cars.
Thus, it is confirmed that the viral video is from US, NOT Chennai.
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