Waymo

2024: Robotaxi recall after more frequent accidents

In mid-February 2024, it became known that Waymo, part of the holding Alphabet (parent structure), Google had recalled its robotic taxis in Arizona. The reason is the increased incidence of road accidents.

Two identical incidents occurred on December 11, 2023 in Phoenix. A Waymo robotaxi collided with a tow truck towing a pickup truck behind the rear. It is claimed that this coupling periodically crossed the marking lines when moving. And due to the mismatch between the orientation of the tow truck and the pickup truck, the on-board computer of the Waymo robotic car could not correctly calculate the further movement of the towed car, as a result of which there was a slight touch. The tow truck continued, however, and a few minutes later another Waymo robotic taxi made a similar collision with the same hitch. Waymo contacted the Phoenix Police Department and Arizona Department of Public Safety on the day of the crashes and reported them to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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Waymo

It is noted that none of the Waymo vehicles had passengers at the time of the accident, and therefore no one was injured. The cars themselves received minor damage. Waymo initiated a voluntary recall of the machines in order to update the onboard. The software company said that due to the identified problem, it was San Francisco Angeles not necessary to interrupt the work of the taxi service, which, in addition to Phoenix, is available in, and Austin.

In addition, it is reported that in early February 2024, the Waymo robomobile became involved in another accident in which a cyclist received minor injuries. The California Department of Motor Vehicles initiated an investigation into the incident.^[1]

2023

Third wave of layoffs in a year

On October 27, 2023, Waymo, part of Alphabet Holding, which is also the parent structure of Google, announced a new phase of reorganization aimed at reducing costs. During this process, the developer of unmanned vehicles will once again reduce the number of personnel.

Waymo's total staff as of early 2023 was approximately 2,500 employees. However, amid the deteriorating macroeconomic situation and the crisis in the United States, the company was forced to carry out two rounds of layoffs during January-March of this year, during which about 200 people lost their jobs, mainly in engineering positions. Thus, the number of employees decreased by 8%. It said at the time that organizational changes would help "focus on commercial success."

Waymo Announces New Phase of Reorganization to Reduce Costs

How many Waymo specialists were fired during the third round in October 2023 is not specified. Company representatives declined to provide any details, noting only that a small part of the state was affected. It is assumed that restructuring will optimize operations and slightly reduce costs. Dismissed employees will receive monetary compensation and other payments.

Several Waymo departments have recently made changes to their teams as part of normal business processes, said company spokeswoman Katherine Barna.

Despite the reduction in headcount, Waymo continues to develop and implement autopilot technologies. In August 2023, the company received permission to carry passengers in robotic taxis throughout San Francisco. Such vehicles can travel without an insurance driver behind the wheel, and customers are charged a traditional travel fee.^[2]

Curtailment of the unmanned trucks project

On July 26, 2023, Waymo, part of the holding Alphabet (parent structure), Google announced the freezing of the development project. unmanned trucks Most of the resources will be directed to the development of the passenger transportation business.

Waymo said in an official statement that the company is "reviewing the timeline for commercial and operational trucking efforts." This is due to the fact that this sector is not developing at such a fast pace as the robotic taxi market. And therefore, in order to achieve financial success, it is necessary to revise priorities.

Google curtails failed unmanned truck project

Given the rapid dynamics and significant commercial opportunities in the field of robotic passenger transportation, we decided to focus efforts and investments in this direction. We are developing our technology platform faster than ever, introducing advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, Waymo notes.

The company is talking about a significant increase in demand for self-driving passenger traffic in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles. At the same time, Waymo emphasizes that it will continue to cooperate with strategic partner Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) for the further technical development of the autonomous truck platform. As part of the strategy change, the vast majority of Waymo's trucking group employees took on other roles within the company. However, some jobs will be abolished altogether.

Focusing on passenger transportation gives us, our partners and our customers ample opportunities to succeed in all areas of the business we do. We continue to see significant commercial prospects for our autonomous trucking platform, adds Waymo.[3]

2021

California approves commercial operation of Waymo self-driving cars

On September 30, 2021, the Department of Motor Transport California approved commercial operation self-driving cars Cruise and. Waymo This allows both companies to charge fees and receive compensation for autonomous services offered to the population only in certain areas. More. here

Dmitry Dolgov - the new head of the company

In early April 2021, Dmitry Dolgov was appointed one of the heads of Alphabet's self-driving car development subsidiary Waymo. Read more here.

2020

Partnership with Daimler to build unmanned trucks

At the end of October 2020, it became known about the cooperation of Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, and Daimler, in which the companies will develop unmanned trucks. Daimler intends to integrate Waymo's self-driving technology into its trucks, which is considered one of the most advanced in the world. The partners' first project will be the creation of a modified Freightliner Cascadia tractor.

Companies intend to develop trucks that meet the fourth level of autonomy (Level 4 SAE). Vehicles will be ready for a full autonomous driving mode in certain conditions (certain geographical location, type of roadway or weather conditions).

Google subsidiary Waymo and Daimler take up self-driving trucks

Before the partnership, both Waymo and Daimler worked independently on self-driving trucks. Waymo acquired a small fleet of Peterbilt trucks that are equipped with autonomous driving sensors and software responsible for self-driving. As of late October 2020, these trucks are being tested in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Daimler said back in 2015 that it was working on a large self-driving Freightliner Inspiration Truck, introducing a prototype.

Daimler Trucks is developing a custom Freightliner Cascadia truck chassis with backup systems for Waymo, setting an industry standard for reliability and safety. This chassis will allow the Waymo driver to be integrated with its customizable, scalable combination of hardware, software, and computing.

Daimler Trucks and Torc's integrated self-driving product will be designed for mainline applications, especially monotonous long distance transportation between distribution centers, said Daimler Waymo[4] to[5]

Raising $750 million in investments

In mid-May 2020, Google announced that it had raised about $750 million more for its Waymo self-driving car project. Thus, the volume of total third-party investments in the company reached $3 billion.

Waymo is a recognized leader in self-driving technology that is successfully expanding its technological advancements, said Egon Durban, CEO of Silver Lake, one of Waymo's investors.

Google raised another $750 million for its self-driving car project

Although COVID-19 could slow down the development of self-driving vehicles in the hard-hit auto industry, it is unlikely to slow Waymo down. The coronavirus pandemic could accelerate the consolidation of independent technology companies, so investors are considering primarily companies that they believe may be the most likely winners. Among Waymo's latest investors are T. Rowe Price, Perry Creek Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company.

Moreover, Waymo CEO John Krafcik believes that the pandemic will even help their project, because it is unmanned vehicles that can provide safe and hygienic delivery and transportation services. People are reviewing the options available to ensure social distancing and can already appreciate the new capabilities of self-driving vehicles. Among other things, the growing popularity of "contactless" delivery of everything from food to new vehicles can be noted.

Despite the economic difficulties, Waymo believes that by mid-May 2020, it is not the time to cut costs. While many companies have temporarily suspended road testing, Waymo continues to develop software and hardware, trying to take full advantage of the situation.^[6]

Raising $2.25 billion for global expansion

On March 2, 2020, Waymo announced that it had raised $2.25 billion in investments. This money will go to the global expansion of the developer of self-driving cars.

The Waymo funding round was attended by Silver Lake, Mubadala Investment Company, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Alphabet. In addition, one of the world's largest manufacturers of car kits Magna International, leading US car dealer AutoNation and venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz have invested in the company.

Waymo reported raising $2.25 billion in investments

AutoNation said it invested $50 million in the initial funding round. How much other external investors sent to the project is not reported, as well as their shares in Waymi.

According to Waymo CEO John Krafcik, thanks to the investment, the company will be able to bring the Waymo Driver autonomous driving system to the global market.

Waymo attracted investment from outside investors for the first time. Thanks to this, according to Krafchik, the company will become more independent. He added that Alphabet will continue to be involved in funding Waymo along with other investors.

By the beginning of January 2020, Waymo robomobiles rolled a total of 20 million kilometers in 25 cities, and were also tested at 10 billion kilometers in simulators.

Simultaneously with the receipt of $2.25 billion from investors, the company announced the launch of the Waymo Via unmanned cargo delivery service. In the first phase, the service operates on routes along the I-10 transportation corridor connecting Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. We are talking about heavy trucks that Waymo tested on the roads of California, Arizona and Georgia, and recently transferred to two more states: Texas and New Mexico.^[7]

2019: Ex-Google engineer accused of stealing technology for self-driving cars

In late August 2019, former Google engineer Anthony Lewandowski was charged with stealing trade secrets in favor of Uber. At the company, he worked on self-driving cars. Read more here.

2017

Testing unmanned vehicles in the city

In early November 2017, Google announced the start of testing fully self-driving cars on city streets. The company claims it makes it the first in the world.

Pacifica minivans Chrysler without people at the wheel are being tested by Waymo, a Google company. She chose the city of Phoenix (Arizona,) as the venue for this experiment USA. The test area is limited to one hundred square miles (about 260 square kilometers).

Chrysler Pacifica self-driving car being tested at Waymo

However, during testing, Waymo employees are still in the cabin. They sit in the back seat of the robomobile, choose one of the three proposed routes, and the car then delivers them to their destination. In the event of an emergency, a person can only order the car to park at the sidewalk using a special button, and not take control  with the help of pedals and steering wheel.

A video (see below) of the first trips of self-propelled vehicles has been published on the Waymo website. On this recording, you can see how the car independently moves along the streets of the city, chooses a route and stops in order to let the pedestrian pass.

It is no coincidence that Waymo chose Phoenix as the testing site for self-driving vehicles. The region has wide streets and some traffic jams, almost always sunny, and rain and snow are rare here. However, the company says that Autopilot is able to safely drive the car even in a heavy downpour.

The company intends to create a service in a short time, with the help of which Phoenix residents will be able to call a car without a driver through an application for ordering a taxi. At first, not all interested passengers will be allowed to travel, but participants in the previously organized Waymo Early Rider program. In the future, Waymo expects to make the service public to all users and start charging.

Disabling the transfer function in robomobiles for drivers in difficult situations

At the end of October 2017, Google announced the cessation of development of technology that allows manual control of self-driving cars in critical situations. The company explained this decision by the dangerous distraction of drivers with activated autopilot.

As the head of the Google Waymo unmanned vehicle division, John Krafcik, told reporters , during the test of robotic vehicles in Silicon Valley, volunteers who took part in the testing were constantly distracted during self-propelled driving at speeds up to 90 km/h: girls painted, someone used the phone, there were even those who slept.

Google self-driving cars lose driver transfer function in critical situations

Immersing themselves in their affairs, users in the cabin of the robomobile became unprepared for vehicle maneuvers, which could lead to unpleasant consequences.

According to John Kravchik, an experiment conducted back in 2013 showed that a system that requires a driver to intercept control over driving with a special signal is not safe. After one of the testers fell asleep at the wheel of a self-driving car, Google decided to focus on developing technologies that did not involve a person interfering with control without his personal desire.

What we found in the tests was quite frightening. It turned out to be difficult to intercept control after losing contextual awareness... Our technology takes care of the entire driving process, which allows passengers to remain passengers, - said Kravchik.

Automakers have implemented an autopilot function when driving high-speed highways, but the technology requires the driver to take control in difficult road situations, Reuters reported. Waymo planned to use the same technology, but ultimately abandoned it.^[8]

Unmanned vehicles will soften to save pedestrians

The American company Waymo received^[9] patent] for the invention of mitigation technology for some elements of the body of an unmanned vehicle. The patent involves the creation of a tensioner system that will be placed under the flexible casing of the car body. If the system determines the pedestrian's car from the course and comes to the conclusion that a collision with it is inevitable, the tensioner system will be rebuilt so that the car body becomes softer and causes as little damage as possible to a person^[10].

Many automakers and some companies from other industries are developing self-driving cars that have a high degree of autonomy. Such cars will be able to independently move around the city or even between cities in the general flow of cars, read road signs and follow the rules. Existing autopilot prototypes can already distinguish pedestrians and cyclists and give the command to stop the car if the trajectory of people and the car intersects.

However, existing autopilot prototypes, like human drivers, cannot predict sudden human behavior or accidents. For example, if a person walking on the sidewalk slips right in front of the car and falls under his wheels, the autopilot may have time to react, but most likely will not have time to stop the car. For this and other similar cases, Waymo intends to create a system for softening some elements of the car body.

The patent provides for a system of cables, linear drives or springs that would normally tighten the flexible skin of bumpers, hood and wings, giving it shape and rigidity. In the event of an inevitable collision, special drives would loosen the cables or springs so that the tension of the flexible skin subsides and it becomes softer. Such a system, if created and goes into mass production, is believed in Waymo, will significantly reduce the number of damage received by a person when a car hits.

According to the patent, the bumper, left and right front wings and hood will receive a coating of special small cells filled with adhesive. Which substance will be used, Google does not specify in the patent. This layer of cells with glue will be covered with a thin protective shell that prevents insects or small animals from sticking to the machine. In a collision, a pedestrian will break through the protective layer, after which glue will immediately protrude through the breach and glue the person to the car, protecting him from falling.

Firefly replacement with Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid

Waymo has officially announced that it is ready to remove Firefly electric vehicles from the test fleet, replacing them with unmanned minivans. According to company representatives, the introduction of self-driving technologies in mass-produced cars of third-party automakers will accelerate the development of the self-driving car segment. Firefly Googlomobiles will be sent as exhibits to museums, and will also participate as a show car at various exhibitions and other events.

File:Waymo PIC.png

Waymo noted that the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid used can reach full speed, unlike the Firefly, which are limited to 40 kilometers per hour (once a Google car was almost fined for too low speed). In addition, according to company representatives, Chrysler minivans have a more comfortable interior, familiar to a modern passenger. In total, Waymo currently uses 600 minivans, some of which carry ordinary people as part of a pilot project.

Self-driving truck testing

Google began testing self-driving freight vehicles earlier in the year . The truck was developed by a subsidiary of Waymo Corporation, specializing in automatic control systems.

The car is a wagon equipped with autonomous control systems. The corporation is confident that the appearance of an unmanned truck on the roads will significantly reduce the number of transport accidents.

Only one truck has been created, which the operator controls manually, but there is no automatic working model yet. At this stage, the correctness of the systems is being checked and the necessary road information is being collected.

In April, Google also launched drone tests carrying real-life passengers in self-controlled minivans. The tests took place in the city of Phoenix and its suburbs (Arizona). The car is called through a free mobile application.

Lawsuit against Uber

Self-driving car developer Waymo (owned by Alphabet the parent company) Google filed a lawsuit in early 2017 accusing Uber Technologies and its self-driving truck startup of stealing technology Otto^[11]

Waymo claims that Otto founder Anthony Lewandowski downloaded 14,000 confidential documents related to lidar technology, a sensor that uses light reflections to determine the position of objects in space, before being fired from Waymo. According to the lawsuit, Lewandoski tried to hide traces of his actions.

lidar technology is actually Waymo's lidar technology," the lawsuit said.

Waymo explained that their developments made lidar significantly cheaper than competitors, so the technology is considered "one of the company's most valuable assets." Uber said it was taking the allegations against its employees seriously and would "scrutinize the matter."

2009-2016: Google X - Google Self-Driving Car

The self-driving car project has been developed by Google X since 2009. During the existence of the project, tests used both modified production cars of third-party automakers and an electric car of its own design Firefly (Firefly), which first appeared on public roads in 2015. At the end of 2016, the Google Self-Driving Car project became an independent company Waymo, which is part of the Alphabet holding. Waymo was created for the commercial use of self-driving technologies in partnership with other automakers, but little was known about the future fate of Firefly's Google mobiles until recently^[12].

Notes