Waymo
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Ex-Waymo driver arrested for causing one of its vans to hit his car
Waymo vehicles get involved in accidental collisions sometimes, but it looks like a January 30th crash in Tempe, Arizona was no accident at all. Authorities have arrested Raymond Tang, an ex-Waymo driver who the company described as "a disgruntled former" contractor, on suspicion that he deliberately caused an accident wherein one of the company's self-driving vans crashed into his passenger car.
Waymo's self-driving vans will carry UPS packages in Phoenix
Waymo is expanding its foray into self-driving delivery vehicles. The Alphabet brand is teaming with UPS on a pilot that will have autonomous Chrysler Pacifica vans carry packages in the metro Phoenix area. They'll be shuttling cargo from UPS Stores to the courier's Tempe processing hub, not directly to customers, but they will drive on their own. A human will stay aboard to keep watch over operations.
Waymo expands its autonomous big rig tests to Texas and New Mexico
If you're in Texas or New Mexico, you might soon see Waymo's autonomous trucks on the road. Alphabet's self-driving division is expanding tests of its big rigs to those states.
A $100 box is the cheapest way we've seen to add LiDAR to cars
Velodyne, one of the companies that helped invent modern LiDAR, says it has developed a component that will make adding laser-based radar to autonomous cars and other vehicles more affordable. At CES, the company showed off its new Velabit LiDAR system, which it plans to sell to manufacturers for about $100 per unit.
Waymo enters the UK with acquisition of self-driving AI startup Latent Logic
Google's parent company, Alphabet, has been pushing the self-driving car industry forward through its subsidiary Waymo. To date, the company has operated primarily within the US, but a recent acquisition demonstrates its interest in expanding internationally as well. As reported by The Guardian, Waymo has bought the UK-based AI company Latent Logic, which specializes in the testing of autonomous vehicles.
Uber may have to pay Waymo or redesign its self-driving software
In 2017, Waymo accused Uber of stealing its autonomous driving trade secrets. You may have thought the Uber-Waymo legal battle was over when, in 2018, the companies reached a settlement and Uber agreed to pay around $245 million. But as part of the settlement, the parties brought in an independent software expert to review Uber's software and make sure it didn't misappropriate Waymo's intellectual property. Now, the review is complete, and Uber admits that the findings are not good.
Waymo’s fully-automated shuttles are picking up riders around Phoenix
Waymo is now offering limited "rider-only" trips in Phoenix, Arizona, Chief Executive John Krafcik told reporters this weekend. At the moment, the fully-autonomous ridesharing service is only available to a few hundred early users.
Waymo is close to offering autonomous rides with no backup driver
Waymo has sent out an email to its earliest ride-hailing customers, letting them know that completely driverless cars are on the way. And yes, the company truly means rides that don't have a human backup driver behind the wheel. The letter, which was posted on Reddit, doesn't have an exact starting date for driver-free rides, only mentioning that customers may be matched with one "soon."
Waymo cars will start mapping streets in Los Angeles
Waymo might just expand its self-driving car service to southern California... eventually. The Alphabet company's cars will start mapping some Los Angeles streets this week to explore the possibility of fitting autonomous vehicles into the city's "dynamic transportation environment." The firm told Engadget that its initial effort will be limited to three cars in the downtown area and the Miracle Mile, but that still raise the possibility of seeing a modified Pacifica cruising down the boulevard.
Feds charge former Waymo engineer with 33 counts of stealing trade secrets
Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer at the center of Waymo and Uber's recent trade secret court case, could soon find himself behind bars. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors with the Northern District of California charged Levandowski with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets from Waymo, reports The New York Times. If he's convicted, Levandowski faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. He'll also have to pay a $250,000 fine for every trade secret he allegedly stole from his former employer.
Waymo shares some of its self-driving car data to help researchers
Self-driving car data is intensely valuable, and it's frequently considered one of Waymo's advantages -- it has more experience than virtually anyone. Now, however, the company is sharing some of that knowledge with the rest of the world. It's launching a Waymo Open Dataset that gives researchers free access to synced camera and LiDAR data from the company's autonomous vehicles across a variety of driving conditions and locales. It only covers 1,000 driving segments of 20 seconds each, but that's 200,000 frames per sensor, 12 million 3D object labels and 1.2 million 2D labels -- that could be a lot to work with.
Waymo is rain-testing its self-driving cars in Florida
Waymo hopes its autonomous driving tech can withstand Florida's notorious rainy season. The company announced today that it will be rain testing a set of Chrysler Pacificas and a Jaguar I-Pace throughout the Sunshine State over the next several weeks.
Waymo uses evolutionary competition to improve its self-driving cars
The process of training self-driving car AI is seldom efficient when you need to either use a massive amount of computing power to train systems in parallel or else have researchers spend ages manually weeding out bad systems. Waymo might have a smarter approach: use the same principles that guide evolution. The company has partnered with DeepMind on a "Population Based Training" method for pedestrian detection that has the best neural networks advance much like lifeforms do in natural selection, saving time and effort.
Luminar's cheap LiDAR could be a big boost for autonomous vehicles
LiDAR (laser pulse-based radar) is an essential component of autonomous driving, as it's what vehicles use to detect obstacles like other cars or pedestrians in order to navigate around them. But LiDAR systems aren't cheap. Now, autonomous vehicle sensor and software company Luminar has announced a new platform which will be a lower-priced alternative to current LiDAR systems.
Waymo's self-driving system has driven 10 billion virtual miles
The 10 million miles Waymo's self-driving vehicles have driven in the real world is a feat in and of itself, but that figure is just a tiny fraction of what it has driven in simulation. At TechCrunch Sessions: Mobility, the Alphabet-owned company has revealed that it has driven over 10 billion virtual miles to test its technology. Waymo's simulation testing allows it to recreate multiple variations of real driving scenarios or to create completely new ones anytime it wants, so that its self-driving technology can learn without the risk of causing or encountering road traffic accidents.
Waymo offers free music and WiFi to make its driverless taxis stand out
Google's self-driving car project Waymo is looking for ways to distinguish itself in the cut-throat taxi market, where it must compete with ridesharing apps and other self-driving services as well as traditional taxis and public transport. To address this challenge, Waymo is focusing on better amenities to appeal to regular customers.
Waymo will test its self-driving taxis on employees in California
Self-driving venture Waymo has been given permission by California authorities to transport people in its robotaxis. According to TechCrunch, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) gave Waymo the green light this week, issuing a permit that will allow the company to participate in the state's Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Service pilot. This means that Waymo employees will be able to hail a self-driving vehicle and take guests on rides within the company's South Bay territory.
Waymo hires former Anki staff to lead its self-driving trucks
Anki's robotic toy business is no more, but the expertise behind it might live on. Waymo has hired 13 of Anki's robotics experts to head its self-driving truck efforts. The recruits include Anki co-founder Boris Sofman as well as five engineers with doctorates from tech-focused schools like MIT, Stanford and Carnegie Mellon. They'll operate out of Waymo's San Francisco offices and expect to grow in the years ahead.
Waymo is developing driverless services with Renault and Nissan
Waymo might make its way to the top of the automotive world with the help of industry giants that chose to team up with the company. The Alphabet subsidiary has just inked a deal with Renault and Nissan to explore the development of driverless mobility services. None of the companies involved revealed details about the project other than the products they do come up with will transport people and deliver goods in France and Japan. According to Reuters, though, the partnership will also explore the development of self-driving cars for the regions. Who knows -- it might even give Waymo the chance to get in on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics robotaxi action.
Waymo's Jaguar EV hits public roads for self-driving tests
Waymo is putting its Jaguar I-Pace EVs on the road for more public testing, only this time around it's been fully kitted out with self-driving tech. The company confirmed to TechCrunch it started testing the self-driving cars close to its Mountain View, California headquarters.
