This is “a temporary measure to keep our riders, trained drivers, and the entire Waymo team safe,” the company said. Waymo will continue to monitor the coronavirus situation to determine when it’s safe to kickstart its ride services again.

The company noted it will help its partners pay staff who had been scheduled to work on Waymo projects if they “if they have symptoms of COVID-19, can’t come into work because they’re quarantined, or if our service is suspended.” It’ll provide updates and tell customers when they can request one of its cars again via a help page, email and the Waymo app.

The freeze is taking effect in the context of not only widespread closures and shutdowns to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, but also hesitation within Waymo’s ranks. One backup driver for Waymo One refused to pick up a passenger at Intel’s Chandler, Arizona office after hearing reports of a COVID-19 case at the company.

It’s not clear when Waymo’s full efforts will resume. That will likely depend on the development of the pandemic and when officials deem it safe to resume close contact. However, its ability to keep truly some service active could make a case for self-driving cars in the future — it may be the only way to greatly reduce health risks for ride hailing services.

With this exemption, Nuro can replace mirrors with cameras and other sensors, round the edges of the vehicle so that it takes up less space and replace the windshield with an opaque panel. Nuro will also be able to run the rear view cameras continuously, whereas in passenger vehicles they must be turned off when the vehicle is moving forward to avoid distracting human drivers.

As the company explains, “Federal vehicle standards were written for today’s passenger cars and trucks. But at Nuro, we’re building something entirely different: a zero-occupant vehicle.”

Following public road testing, Nuro plans to begin the first driverless deliveries to customers’ homes in Houston, Texas, where it already partners with Walmart and Domino’s. (The company has also partnered with Kroger in Arizona.) While Nuro is grateful for the DOT and NHTSA exemption, the company says it hopes this will lead to new design regulations for zero-occupant delivery vehicles, so that companies can advance the technology without requiring exemptions.

Cruise still isn’t ready to say when its autonomous vehicle will be available, but now it’s shown off the Origin, a GM-built electric shuttle van that doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals. Instead it’s fully self-driving, intended to be a shareable, modular vehicle that can handle being on the road all the time.

It’s basically a minibus, with three seats at each end that face each other and split sliding doors that open up like a subway car. Cruise hasn’t revealed details like the battery capacity or cost, but claims that “the average San Franciscan household driving themselves or using ridesharing” will see savings of $5,000 per year thanks to the vehicle.

According to execs, more information on manufacturing for this “production” vehicle will be coming soon. Also, because of its modular design, they think it will be better suited for use as a robotaxi than regular passenger cars, and that its sensors will have “superhuman” ability to spot pedestrians and navigate in bad weather.

The test run will help Nuro and Walmart “develop and refine” their services, including providing the best “end-to-end” experience for shoppers. Kroger’s earlier use of the vehicles takes scheduled orders through a mobile app, with store staff loading the R1 before it makes its way to a customer’s home.

It could be a long, long time before you can simply assume that a driverless courier will be available to spare you a trip to Walmart. Nuro’s current vehicles are relatively slow, and there are all kinds of real-world challenges (such as snow) to overcome. A lack of consistent regulations for self-driving vehicles will also limit where and how these robotic couriers can operate. This is more of a peek at the future of food delivery than anything else.

At the beginning of the month, Waymo said it was close to offering autonomous rides with no backup driver. This announcement suggests that it’s plans are on schedule. Unfortunately, Waymo has not confirmed when it will open the driverless rides to all customers in Phoenix, and users who have signed up for the service have signed non-disclosure agreements.

Krafcik noted that Waymo has opened the world’s first factory dedicated to L4 autonomous driver integration. The company is also testing its automated driver technology on Peterbilt trucks, as it looks to expand into trucking and commercial deliveries, Reuters reports. “We think trucking is a really interesting application of the Waymo driver,” Krafcik said.

“In the heart of Detroit, MI we’ve opened the world’s first factory 100% dedicated to L4 autonomous Driver integration. Our factory recently completed 30 I-PACES that are now in CA for development and testing.” –@johnkrafcik @Forbes #30Under30Summit pic.twitter.com/MmntZLiVX4

— Waymo (@Waymo) October 28, 2019