Autonomous vehicle company Waymo opening Pittsburgh office

Waymo, an autonomous vehicles company, plans to open an office in Pittsburgh.

The Silicon Valley-based company was Google’s self-driving car project before it became an independent company in 2016. It plans to hire approximately 20 employees for its new office, many from RobotWits, by the end of the year.

RobotWits, a robotics company focusing on autonomous vehicles, was founded by Maxim Likhachev, an associate professor in the School of Computer Science’s Robotics Institute.

RobotWits’ algorithms help self-driving vehicles manage unexpected stops, changing light and road conditions, and other variables encountered on the road; maintain consistent speed; plan for uncertainty in the intentions of other vehicles and pedestrians; and analyze nearby vehicles, pedestrians and other objects.

“Pittsburgh is one of the main hubs for autonomous driving technology development in the U.S.,” Tushar Chandra, head of Waymo’s Behavior team said. “You can see why we’d be excited about Pittsburgh’s engineering and technology talent and world-class expertise in robotics.”

Other autonomous vehicle companies in Pittsburgh include Argo AI, Aurora, Motional and Locomation.

RobotWits also is co-creator of The Robot Doctor, an eight-episode regional miniseries that aired on PBS stations statewide. The series’ goal was to increase interest in STEM careers among high school students by showing how mathematics is used in robotics.