Cover The 5th-generation Waymo Driver on the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE (Photo: Waymo)
The 5th-generation Waymo Driver on the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE (Photo: Waymo)
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The Waymo Driver is programmed to follow proper road rules while executing natural driving movements such as steering and accelerating smoothly and gently stepping on the brakes
Self-driving cars are fast becoming a booming tech industry. Most of the companies that are in this space are based in California, the technological epicentre of the world. It’s no surprise that one of the Big Tech companies was already working on fully autonomous vehicles as far back as two decades ago.
Twenty-one years ago, the Stanford Racing Team from Stanford University started to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge. The DARPA Grand Challenge was a 212-kilometre off-road long-distance race for driverless cars with a prize of US$2 million. The Stanford Racing Team’s entry, a modified 2005 Volkswagen Touareg SUV fitted with onboard computers and sensors, finished first ahead of 22 other autonomous vehicles built by other teams.
Also read: Long-range electric vehicles are almost here—but how soon can you drive one?
The start of Waymo’s journey
Above Waymo’s fully autonomous reference vehicle, Firefly (Photo: Waymo)
Waymo’s fully autonomous reference vehicle, Firefly (Photo: Waymo)
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In 2009, Google recruited the director of Stanford's artificial intelligence lab, several engineers from the Stanford Racing Team and other team members who won the DARPA Grand Challenge. Initially called Project Chauffeur, the Google self-driving car project developed a modified Toyota Prius in 2010 that could drive autonomously under different real-world road conditions while obeying traffic laws. The vehicle was equipped with an onboard computer, roof-mounted laser rangefinder, radar sensors, cameras and GPS.
By 2015, Project Chauffeur had logged over a million miles and made its first fully autonomous road trip on public roads using an internally developed reference vehicle called the Firefly. Google had already spent US$1.1 billion on the project from 2010 to 2015 with its development of self-driving software and hardware. In 2016, Google’s project was renamed Waymo, a self-driving technology company. The company became a subsidiary of Alphabet, the technology conglomerate that now owns Google and other subsidiaries.
The technology behind Waymo
Above A Waymo One vehicle serving riders in San Francisco (Photo: Waymo)
A Waymo One vehicle serving riders in San Francisco (Photo: Waymo)
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With more than a decade of existence, Waymo calls its fully autonomous technology the Waymo Driver. The Waymo Driver is in control from passenger pickup and drop-off. In a Waymo vehicle, there is literally no one at the wheel, which is very different from various self-driving assists in other vehicles that require a human driver to be in the driver’s seat at all times.
When Waymo operates in an area, it has a detailed map of the region including road signs, lane markers, curbs and crosswalks. These highly detailed custom maps are one step ahead of just using GPS in a normal car navigation system. The Waymo vehicle uses both real-time sensor data as well as artificial intelligence (AI) to determine its exact position on the road. The Waymo vehicle can “see” traffic lights and various hazards and obstacles such as construction activity, pedestrians, cyclists and other moving vehicles using AI and its array of sensors.
Above A rider hailing a trip via the Waymo One iOS app (Photo: Waymo)
A rider hailing a trip via the Waymo One iOS app (Photo: Waymo)
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To summon the Waymo vehicle, passengers need to use the Waymo One autonomous ride-hailing service, which pretty much works like an Uber. The service is currently available in the United States in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. It will also be available soon in Atlanta, Miami and Washington, DC. Once the Waymo robotaxi is summoned, passengers use the app to get in. The vehicles are totally driverless, and users can use the app or the in-vehicle screen to tap commands such as opening the trunk or pulling over in case of an emergency.
The Waymo robotaxi
Above The 5th-generation Waymo Driver on the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE (Photo: Waymo)
The 5th-generation Waymo Driver on the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE (Photo: Waymo)
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The 5th-generation Waymo Driver is installed on a fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs. The vehicles are equipped with a combination of custom-designed hardware and software. Each Waymo vehicle is fitted with lidar, cameras and radar that lets the vehicle “see” up to 275 meters in any direction in milliseconds. The lidar gives the vehicle a 3D picture of its surroundings, the camera provides a 360-degree view and the radar can detect incoming objects in all weather conditions.
Future models of Waymo vehicles include a 6th-generation Waymo Driver on a Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV SUV and a rider-first autonomous vehicle platform designed in partnership with Zeekr RT.
More than a computer on wheels
Above The front seat of Waymo’s autonomously driven Jaguar I-PACE (Photo: Waymo)
The front seat of Waymo’s autonomously driven Jaguar I-PACE (Photo: Waymo)
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An onboard computer with server-grade CPUs and GPUs uses all the data from its sensors to plan a safe route to the vehicle’s destination. It also uses AI to plan the best route or action to take in real-time. Various redundancies in the vehicle, such as a secondary on-board computer, backup collision detection and avoidance systems, backup power, redundant steering and braking and cybersecurity, ensure vehicle and passenger safety at all times.
The Waymo Driver is programmed to follow proper road rules while executing natural driving movements such as steering and accelerating smoothly and gently stepping on the brakes. It can even “hear” the sirens of emergency vehicles and know how to drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Safety is the highest priority
Waymo’s goal is to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities wherever its service operates. The current data seems to indicate that Waymo vehicles are even better than humans at avoiding accidents that result in injuries. Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurers, believes that Waymo is safer than vehicles with human drivers. Currently, Waymo has 76 per cent fewer property damage claims and 100 fewer bodily injury claims.
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