A
- Annual percentage rate (APR)
- A yearly measure of borrowing cost that incorporates interest and certain fees. When comparing financing offers, check the amount borrowed, APR, term and total cost together. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Comparing auto loan offers
- Automated driving system (ADS)
- Hardware and software that perform the driving task within the conditions the system supports. Crash-reporting requirements distinguish an ADS from partial driver assistance. NHTSA · Standing General Order on Crash Reporting
- Available hour
- An hour during which a vehicle is offered to the network in the RobotaxiProfit model. It can include waiting between bookings. Reserve time needed for personal trips before estimating paid hours. RobotaxiProfit · Model assumptions and verification method
B
- Break-even utilization
- The share of available time that would have to earn passenger revenue to cover modeled costs. If the contribution from each additional paid hour is too small, a feasible percentage may not exist. RobotaxiProfit · Model assumptions and verification method
C
- Charging power (kW)
- The rate at which energy can be supplied to a vehicle, measured in kilowatts. A charging session’s usable power depends on both the equipment and the vehicle. U.S. Department of Energy · Electric vehicles for fleets
D
- Deadhead miles
- Distance a vehicle travels empty, for example to a pickup or back to a depot. It still uses energy and wears tires. Reporting programs may use more specific definitions. Federal Transit Administration · National Transit Database glossary
- Depot
- A base where a fleet stores or services vehicles between assignments. A depot may provide charging, inspection, cleaning and maintenance. Waymo · Uber and Waymo’s Austin and Atlanta partnership announcement
- Depreciation
- For an earnings scenario, the estimated loss of vehicle value from additional use. Tax depreciation follows separate rules for recovering eligible vehicle costs over time. IRS Publication 463 · Travel, gift, and car expenses
G
- Geofence
- A geographic boundary used to limit where a service or vehicle may operate. Being inside a service boundary does not guarantee that a particular pickup or route is available. Waymo · Self-driving ride questions
K
- Kilowatt-hour (kWh)
- A unit of electrical energy. Supplying one kilowatt of power for one hour delivers one kilowatt-hour. Multiply billed kilowatt-hours by the applicable energy price to estimate the energy charge. U.S. Department of Energy · Electric vehicles for fleets
L
- Level 2 driver assistance
- A system can assist with steering and speed at the same time. The human driver supervises the road and remains responsible for driving. NHTSA · Automated vehicle safety and levels of automation
- Level 4 automated driving
- Automation can perform the driving task, including fallback, within its design conditions. A passenger does not have to take over when the system operates in those conditions. NHTSA · Automated vehicle safety and levels of automation
O
- Operational design domain (ODD)
- The conditions for which a driving system is designed, such as specific roads, speeds, geography or weather. NHTSA · Automated Driving Systems, A Vision for Safety
P
- Paid mile
- One vehicle mile with a fare-paying passenger in the model. Summing mileage for each individual passenger in the same car can produce a different figure. RobotaxiProfit · Model assumptions and verification method
R
- Remote assistance
- Help supplied from outside the vehicle. For example, Waymo says staff can provide situational information to the driving system while the system selects its action. Waymo · How fleet response provides information to vehicles
- Revenue service
- In transit reporting, time or mileage during which a vehicle is available to provide passenger service. An agency’s definition can include an empty vehicle available for passengers. Check the reporting rules before using this as paid time. Federal Transit Administration · National Transit Database glossary
S
- SAE levels of driving automation
- A classification from Level 0 through Level 5 describing which driving tasks a system performs and what the human must do. The classification applies to the feature and its operating conditions. NHTSA · Automated vehicle safety and levels of automation
- Self-employment tax
- U.S. Social Security and Medicare taxes that can apply to net earnings from self-employment. Applicability and amounts depend on the individual and tax year. IRS · Self-employment tax
T
- Teleoperations
- An umbrella term for work performed remotely in support of a vehicle. Look for the distinction between providing context to a driving system and a person directly controlling movement. Waymo · How fleet response provides information to vehicles
U
- Utilization
- In our earnings model, the percentage of available vehicle hours spent carrying paying riders. A mileage-based or fleet-wide utilization figure needs its own denominator. RobotaxiProfit · Model assumptions and verification method