The day is still distant when you can actually own a self-driving car, but in certain parts of the Phoenix area, hundreds of people will soon be integrating one into their daily lives.

Waymo, the self-driving-car outfit spun out of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has been putting millions of miles on its autonomous cars in various cities for years. On Tuesday, the company was to announce the next phase of testing: putting ordinary people inside its Chrysler minivans and Lexuses.

Those accepted into the program, which has already begun quietly operating, will summon a car with an app and then go about their business. They will be encouraged to use the vehicles to go anywhere they would normally go at any hour — the office, the movies, the supermarket, even a late-night search for ice cream.

Waymo is not charging those involved in the trial. It says it is casting a broad net for all types of people in an effort to accumulate reams of data about how driverless cars will be used in practice and not just in theory.