this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2025
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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] 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 3 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.