I vividly remember the first moment our car, Junior, drove by itself in the parking lot using software I was working on just hours before.In the United States, the same technology needs to be able to handle San Francisco’s traffic density, hills, and fog; Phoenix’s scorching temperatures and monsoon season; New York’s cold winters and heavy traffic; and the highways of Los Angeles.Over the years, many AV companies—we at Waymo, and others at Aurora, Cruise, Motional, Nuro, and Oxbotica to name just a few—have been making tremendous progress in cities as diverse as Las Vegas and San Francisco in the US and Oxford in England.In the coming year and beyond, we will see the industry enter a new phase as fully-autonomous ride-hailing services expand rapidly to new markets.AV companies will sign more partnerships with carriers, freight brokers, and major consumer brands."