Waymo autonomous vehicles

Regardless of the news stories about failures of autonomous automobiles, I recently watched a Waymo vehicle navigating the very busy, narrow, congested streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin district, and the technology is amazing and quite impressive. The Tenderloin is a cacophony of visual, audio and physical inputs and distractions. Along with the standard traffic signals and indicators, there is trash, bad lane markings, potholes, sudden changes between two-way and one-way traffic, double-parked vehicles, homeless people camping virtually encroaching the street, people with mental issues moving aimlessly into streets and intersections, bike/e-scooter messengers/delivery people weaving through traffic. The Waymo seems to accommodate this environment as well as a human - keep in mind, some humans cannot handle driving in S.F. and many will outright avoid the Tenderloin at all costs.

I am totally impressed with the sensor tech, sensor integration and software.

The vehicles are bristling with sensors (radar, lidar, cameras and microphones) so it does illustrate how adept humans are with our bio-based gear!

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfran...-waymo-autonomous-vehicles-san-francisco.html

 

[Brian Malone]

Waymo's blog discusses how their "Driver" software addresses some of the concerns and challenges:

https://waymo.com/blog/2023/08/the-waymo-drivers-rapid-learning-curve

The autonomous vehicles supposedly run simulation drives even when parked so the AI is self-learning on a continuous basis. The computing tech and software algorithms are quite impressive. But, yes it still needs work to handle the real tough conditions of snow, ice, darkness, etc. I could not find any reports of a Waymo (or any other AV) plowing through pre-schoolers in a crosswalk so at least that case seems to be fully covered.

 

[lucky-guesser]

From what I've seen, a lot of these self driving cars are programmed to be risk averse and give right of way to human drivers, so when they end up in a situation where there are multiple self driving cars, its like a bunch of 90 year old grandmas afraid of causing a fender bender waiting for the others just waiting to move. In most cases it will just slow things down but I have heard of times where all of the cars got to the point where they wouldn't move.

 

[CWB1]

How are these blindly stupid “auto” vehicles going to do when...

They've been on the road for a decade now, so I'd say they're doing reasonably well. No doubt as volume increases there will be quality and the inadvertent unforeseeable new situation encountered, but that's development of any kind.

I didnt work on Waymo, but 3rd-hand the biggest issue I recall hearing about was scumbags swerving, brake-checking, or otherwise trying to intentionally crash them.

 

[Brian Malone]

I didnt work on Waymo, but 3rd-hand the biggest issue I recall hearing about was scumbags swerving, brake-checking, or otherwise trying to intentionally crash them.

The challenges of AV software are amplified with intentional improper/agressive actions by human drivers!

 

[gruntguru]

Must relate one of my pet hates.
You pull over to let an emergency vehicle through only to find you can't get back into-your-lane or onto-the-road because a line of cars is speeding though, tailgating the ambulance etc.

je suis charlie

 

[IRstuff]

California allows for 300-ft separation between emergency vehicle and the follower, so not illegal unless speeding or running red lights.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[GregLocock]

The geniusses in Victoria, Australia have a law that if a police car with flashing lights pulls over to the side of the freeway you MUST slow to 40 kph, 25 mph, as you pass it. As you can imagine this makes for some excitement on multilane freeways.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[IRstuff]

you MUST slow to 40 kph, 25 mph

That's how I got out of a speeding ticket once; I was pulled over by CHP and the cop had stopped, but a car blasted by going around 100 mph, so the CHP left me and chased the other car, since I had only been doing 85 or so when clocked.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[gruntguru]

California allows for 300-ft separation between emergency vehicle and the follower, so not illegal unless speeding or running red lights.

Sounds sensible. Couldn't find a similar rule in my jurisdiction.

My most recent experience - waiting at an intersection - green light but there was stationary traffic in my turning lane on the other side so I couldn't enter without obstructing the intersection. Ambulance (siren and flashing lights) approached from behind in my lane so I entered the intersection and pulled aside. Ambulance passed me - trailing a string of followers. Meanwhile the turning lane had moved forward a bit but two of the followers filled the gap and the lights turned red leaving me blocking the intersection. I managed to squeeze alongside the back marker in the turning lane (I was still partially obstructing the other lane) - gave the driver a mouthfull.

je suis charlie

 

[gruntguru]

The geniusses in Victoria, Australia have a law that if a police car with flashing lights pulls over to the side of the freeway you MUST slow to 40 kph, 25 mph, as you pass it. As you can imagine this makes for some excitement on multilane freeways.

Similar law in QLD but sensibly worded.
Parked emergency response vehicles with flashing lights
If you're passing a parked emergency response vehicle with flashing lights, you must move over and slow down as soon as you can do so safely.

je suis charlie