Waymo has teamed up with American Automobile Association (AAA) Northern California, Nevada and Utah, and other like-minded organizations, to launch the Let’s Talk Self-Driving campaign.
Let’s Talk Self-Driving, which also involves Mothers Against Driving, the Foundation for Blind Children and the National Safety Council, aims to educate people about how self-driving technology can save lives and make roads more inclusive by improving independence and creating new mobility options for everyone.
“The partnership with Waymo and other like-minded organizations is a critical addition to our efforts in advocating for our members and educating the public around automated driving technology,” said Ignacio Garcia, vice president, Autonomous Vehicle Strategy for AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah.
Waymo hosted AAA School Safety patrol members and students at its closed-course facility to show them fully self-driving cars in action. In addition to watching demos, the guests learned how Waymo vehicles can see all around them and predict how other road users might behave so the Waymo cars can make safe driving decisions, very quickly. Students also got to ride in Waymo vehicles to experience fully self-driving technology for themselves.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the AAA School Safety Patrol program, AAA has created a School Safety Lesson Plan as a free downloadable resource for teachers. As part of that effort, AAA partnered with Waymo to develop a Lesson Plan module about self-driving cars that encourages students to think about ways to make driving safer and how autonomous vehicles can reduce the risks associated with unsafe behavior such as texting and eating while driving.