Waymo

[ThomasD]

I wonder if the next step in testing will be rough weather. Testing in Oklahoma, Texas, eastern New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska in spring time

 

[DanCar]

https://twitter.com/Waymo/status/1326252612577062916
Waymo confirms it is orders of magnitude more advanced than Tesla.

 

[ThomasD]

What would the car do here? Stop, Reverse, turn around or keep going straight

 

[diplomat33]

What would the car do here? Stop, Reverse, turn around or keep going straight

Probably stop or turn around and go back to base. At the first weather alert, Waymo would probably send a command to all robotaxis to return home. Autonomous cars are not required to be able to drive in the middle of tornadoes.

 

[DanCar]

Waymo employs a chase car.
More of Waymo in daytime city traffic; school zones, unprotected lefts, and the like (Plus video proof of the chase car, at the end) : SelfDrivingCars

 

[ThomasD]

So if you had 200 cars with passengers in them they would all return to base

 

[diplomat33]

So if you had 200 cars with passengers in them they would all return to base

Or at least pull over and the passengers would find shelter. They are not going to drive in a tornado. What do humans do in a tornado alert? We don't drive either. We find immediate shelter.

 

[diplomat33]

Interesting video:

We learn that Waymo does detect emergency vehicles and puts a red box around them in the driver display. Waymo will pull over for emergency vehicles.

We see Waymo detect a construction zone and take a detour that appears to be somewhat unnecessary. As they say in the video, it seems the Waymo car did not want to try to squeeze between the center curb and the cones that were in the center lane so it took an easier path.

Later in the video, we do see Waymo handle an intersection with a person directing traffic because the traffic light was out. That's new and really nice that Waymo can handle that so well.

 

[EVNow]

Later in the video, we do see Waymo handle an intersection with a person directing traffic because the traffic light was out. That's new and really nice that Waymo can handle that so well.

I remember seeing such a video last year ...

 

[diplomat33]

I remember seeing such a video last year ...

It's new to me.

 

[DanCar]

I remember seeing such a video last year ...

I remember seeing such a video 3+ years ago.

 

[EVNow]

I remember seeing such a video 3+ years ago.

Yes - its also part of the feature list Waymo says they test for.

Tracking FSD Feature Complete

 

[powertoold]

I thought Waymo's tech allowed for a much smoother ride compared to Tesla, but apparently, the steering wheel still spazzes out big time (starts at 2:25 in the video on a simple street with no other moving cars):

 

[powertoold]

Later in the video, we do see Waymo handle an intersection with a person directing traffic because the traffic light was out. That's new and really nice that Waymo can handle that so well.

That's cool. The traffic light graphic on the UI showed it to be solid red though. Also, I have a feeling a remote operator pushed the "Go" button for the car to proceed because the car just stood there for ~5 seconds after it was clear for it to go (because other cars were going).

We see Waymo detect a construction zone and take a detour that appears to be somewhat unnecessary. As they say in the video, it seems the Waymo car did not want to try to squeeze between the center curb and the cones that were in the center lane so it took an easier path.

That's interesting, as LIDAR is supposed to provide a more accurate 3D representation. The car should have known it could fit between the cone and island.

 

[Daniel in SD]

That's interesting, as LIDAR is supposed to provide a more accurate 3D representation. The car should have known it could fit between the cone and island.

I'm sure the car "knew" that it could fit between the cones. It just didn't know whether it should, that's a much harder problem.
They can drive around cones (at least they could 9 years ago).

 

[diplomat33]

I wonder if the next step in testing will be rough weather. Testing in Oklahoma, Texas, eastern New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska in spring time

Waymo has been testing for rougher weather for awhile now. For example, they have test cars in Michigan and Florida for heavy snow and heavy rain conditions.

 

[powertoold]

Check out Waymo oddly struggling with driving by a large metallic truck at 16:42. Waymo has a lot of weird bugs for having 1 disengagement every 15k miles or whatever it is:

 

[EVNow]

I thought Waymo's tech allowed for a much smoother ride compared to Tesla, but apparently, the steering wheel still spazzes out big time (starts at 2:25 in the video on a simple street with no other moving cars):

View attachment 610029

Looks like it wants more gap from parked cars.

 

[Daniel in SD]

Check out Waymo oddly struggling with driving by a large metallic truck at 16:42. Waymo has a lot of weird bugs for having 1 disengagement every 15k miles or whatever it is:

Not sure it had anything to do with the truck. It was trying to change lanes to the right for a future turn. It should have changed when it had room earlier. People bully the Waymo vehicles and don't let them in. haha.

 

[powertoold]

Not sure it had anything to do with the truck. It was trying to change lanes to the right for a future turn.

Hmmm I'm not sure if that's the case. I watched it a couple times and maybe I'm wrong, but the wheel was clearly jerky, and the passengers even mentioned it being shakey. Wanting to change lanes or not shouldn't cause a jerky wheel. There was no bullying that I saw. The cars on the right were already backed up when the Waymo passed them.

Edit: it looks like the right lane change indicator came on mid way or after the large truck, check the video again. Also I believe the shaking wheel was caused by uncertainty in the truck's position, as shown by the jittery truck box on the UI. This may have to do with the truck's metallic body bouncing the lidar.