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Waymo Partners with Toyota, Opening Door to Sell Autonomous Vehicles to Consumers (fuelarc.com)

submitted 22 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

We wondered what Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai meant when he said on their earnings call last Thursday that for Waymos, “there is future optionality for personal ownership.”

Well, we only had to wait a minute to find out. Waymo announced today that they’re developing autonomous technology with a little automotive manufacturer you may have heard of: Toyota.

Tucked into the announcement, Waymo also plans to release a generalizable autonomous driving system for any given vehicle. Read our full analysis!

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

It will be fascinating to see just how autonomous this package will be, and where it can and cannot go. Will the vehicle be able to drive with no occupants? Can it handle gravel roads, tow a trailer?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 minute ago

I lived in Phoenix for a few years and saw more than a few driverless Waymo cars. It's pretty fascinating, considering that the only accidents these cars are ever involved in are human-caused.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

The Waymo cabs drive without occupants all the time, so assuming that it's driving in a city that it's familiar with (right now that's LA, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin), I don't see why the consumer version wouldn't be able to.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I want to send the thing further down the river to wait for me on a whitewater trip, that would save so much hassle.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

Wishful thinking but that's not happening anytime soon. At least not in a Waymo. They only work in designated urban areas, and need thousands of hours of training before they can take on new routes.

Not to mention that a traffic cone can tbrk/confuse them; I can't even imagine a Waymo trying to go off road without freaking out over every little rock in the way.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

So, they do have details in the source docs: they specifically reference both ADS and ADAS.

ADAS is currently a Tesla FSD-type experience. You need an attentive human in the driver's seat (for now). It's a driver's aid.

ADS is the wild west. That's what Waymo currently provides in their autonomous fleet. No occupants, no problem.

I am stoked to see how it does what Toyota trucks do best, which is hauling trailers and going either down rough roads or going entirely off-road. I wasn't mentally ready for this news today, so I have no idea what this means for the fully off-road experience.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago

I'd be very surprised if the system will work entirely off road, but gravel access roads would be amazing.