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Google Waymo has announced that it will deploy Chrysler Pacifica minivans using its own homegrown sensors onto public roads starting at the end of January:
[Here's] the thing about these minivans. Waymo says that for the first time, its producing all the technology that enables its cars to completely drive themselves in-house. That means for the first time, the Google spin-off is building all its own cameras, sensors, and mapping technology, rather than purchasing parts off the shelf as it had done in the past. This allows the company to exert more control over its self-driving hardware, as well as bring the cost down to ridiculously cheap levels. In a speech in Detroit, Waymo CEO Jeff Krafcik said that by building its own LIDAR sensors, for example, the company was shaving 90 percent off its costs. That means sensors that Google purchased for $75,000 back in 2009 now only cost $7,500 for Waymo to build itself.
Bloomberg reports that Google/Alphabet/Waymo's cars are getting better at driving themselves, with fewer "disengagements":
Vehicles tested in California by Waymo, the autonomous car company owned Google parent Alphabet Inc., had a much lower rate of "disengagements" last year, compared with 2015. Disengagements happen when a human tester needs to take control of a self-driving car, either to avoid an accident or respond to technical problems.
Waymo Chief Executive Officer John Krafcik shared the data during a speech on Sunday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. California requires companies with permits to test autonomous vehicles to disclose the metric. The figure is one measure of the effectiveness of the nascent technology in the real world. In 2015, Alphabet reported 341 disengagements during 424,331 autonomous miles driven in California. That was 0.8 disengagements per thousand miles. In 2016, the rate improved to 0.2, according to Krafcik.
"As our software and hardware becomes more robust through our testing, we're driving this number down further," he said during a keynote address in Detroit. Krafcik also highlighted advances in Waymo's sensor technology.
Also at Reuters.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:35PM
by building its own LIDAR sensors, for example, the company was shaving 90 percent off its costs.
They aren't, not exactly.
The thing with LIDAR or "time of flight sensors" is the tech is collapsing in price faster than vendors know how to handle it.
So something that sold for $5K five years ago is like $15 at adafruit today, at least for similar performance specs.
If the marketplace is dropping in price by 90% every five years (which is probably pessimistic) and it takes some defense/military contractor five years to gestate a lidar component, then if you buy it today from them, you'll pay the price from five years ago, whereas if you build it yourself you'll pay the price from today which is 90% lower.
Most of the money in automotive gear goes to surviving 140F to -60F and water everywhere and road salt and surviving 60 volt alternator dumps and at some point shipping an empty sensor casing that can survive that becomes a significant fraction of the cost and then prices stop dropping.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:38PM
To be fair, they also need those same protections on the half-dozen computers that are in low-end new cars these days too.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:53PM
Oh totally agree about the internal machinery its the external sensors that'll get expensive to add. There's really nothing like lidar sensors on modern cars.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:13PM
Yeah, you're right. That's a relevant distinction.
(off topic) At first I typed "That's a totally relevant distinction" but that came across as sarcastic. I think I've discovered that intensifying adverbs are inherently sarcastic on the internet.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:01PM
The summary and article have a very passive voice when discussion
when a human tester needs to take control of a self-driving car
I'm curious who's asserting the interrupt, the human saying oh shit and grabbing the wheel or the computer saying oh shit and telling the human to grab the wheel.
Putting the interrupts per kilomile into perspective, to one sig fig they're talking about rates improving from about monthly to about seasonally.
Another interesting aspect of disengagements is much as nobody gets manufacturer reported MPG I suspect no one will get manufacturer reported disengagements.
I mostly burn interstate commuter miles with a small but significant fraction during rush hour, my retired MIL mostly does shopping and volunteer work and a lot of driving around visiting friends and relatives and I suspect there will be interesting variations although I can't predict them. On one hand the interstate is scarier but on the other hand I've got 100 other self driving cars with me on the same road at the same time sharing info about every little pothole, so maybe interstates will be unusually predictable and safe, I donno.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:14PM
Those are California/US disengagements.
Multiply by 20 for Southern Europe.
Multiply by 2000 for Asian or South American metropolis.
Abort CPU and engage manual for mid-size African or Indian towns
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:35PM
I know there's going to be cultural issues too. I've driven in Ireland while visiting and in the USA we simply make our roads 30 feet wide so its not an issue but in Ireland they make them like 3 meters wide and its simply understood that you go off roading when you meet another vehicle. Like their entire roads are narrower than our single lanes. In Ireland they grade the dirt next to the road so offroading is mostly survivable most of the time plus or minus fences and ponds and stuff. In the USA we put deep drainage ditches and sidewalks and rural mail boxes next to our 30 foot wide roads so if you go offroading you need a tow truck. I wonder if self driving cars are smart enough to understand the finer points of offroading in Ireland while avoiding getting stuck in the mud or hitting things.
It was stressful the first time I drove there, not to mention the locals driving on the wrong side of the road, but Ireland is too chill of a place to be stressed out for long.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:13PM
OMG! That just made me remember some road at New Zealand.
One line in each direction, nice road for a while, went narrower to a single line...
and just when i was thinking how crazy that was...
the road got on top of the railway tracks to use the railroad bridge to cross some river.
waymo scary!
... and cheap.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @07:06PM
I hope they don't cause waymo crashes than ordinary vehicles.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @09:58PM
Remember when Uber left california because they didn't want to pay for a $150 autonomous vehicle testing license? [bgr.com]
Its the terms of that license which requires Google to publicly report these disengagement numbers.
Google is now at a horrible competitive disadvantage to Uber because of this government forced disclosure.
Sad!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @04:39PM
Cuz google desperately needs to know more about your porn habit.
(Score: 2) by ah.clem on Wednesday January 11 2017, @04:43PM
Serious question. Will it be possible to buy this as a kit and retrofit my current car with it, like I can with blind-spot sonar devices? I do a lot of long-distance highway driving but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to pony up the dough for a self-driving car. I'm happy to sit there and drive most of the time, but it would be nice to occasionally let the car do it itself and I'd just ride herd on the wheel and pedals at those times. I'm not looking to take a nap or read a book or anything, just would just like the car to keep in the lane, maintain a correct distance between me and the car ahead, begin breaking if needed (although I worry about how smart cars will deal with the assholes that pull right in front of you from another lane - slam on the brakes and the asshole tailgater then rams you?) and basically giving me a break every now and then. I can see the need for front and rear cams like the Russians use. I have considered putting one in anyway just to start a YouTube channel of all the asshole moves I see on road trips - like the Harley driver, laying back with a cruise control on, both ands off the bars, texting at 75 miles an hour - man, I so wished I had that on video!