![]() ![]() ![]() Having followed the Google Car project and later Waymo with a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism over the years, I've been captivated of late by how quickly Krafcik and his team have turned the grand experiment into a major business effort. For Waymo, prediction (which is part of planning), is another core pillar, and it will be treated independently here. In this post, the only thing I’ll not talk about is control. That was due largely to Krafcik's ambitious go-to-market objectives, which include not just an autonomous ride-hailing service of the type currently being piloted in Phoenix, AZ, but also a logistics/delivery arm and a technology licensing structure. As with every self-driving vehicle, Waymo implements their tech using our 4 main steps: perception, localization, planning, and control. Morgan Stanley recently pegged Waymo's potential value at a stunning $175 billion (the $50 billion-$75 billion range was what many analysts had previously suggested). Today, we have the world’s only fleet equipped with fully autonomous-driving cars on public roads. And it has let some Waymo employees ride in. Spunoff from Alphabet, Google's parent company, in 2016, Waymo is now run by John Krafcik, a seasoned auto-industry executive. Waymo began as the Google self-driving car project in 2009. Waymo has been testing self-driving cars in San Francisco for a decade, dating back to when it was still just a quirky-looking project inside Google. Along the way, a who's who of autonomous pioneers has worked on the project: Sebastian Thrun, Chris Umson, Anthony Levandowski. Learn how the Google self-driving car project has improved its software to navigate city streets with hundreds of objects and different rules of the road. Since 2009, Waymo has amassed over eight million self-driving miles, using a variety of platforms. Ultimately, Googles Firefly self-driving car will be remembered as one of the most future-forward vehicle prototypes ever produced. What started as secretive Google X lab undertaking is now on the verge of being a commercial business, planning to launch in limited markets this year and expand in 2019. ![]() Seniors can keep their freedom even if they can’t keep their car keys. Just imagine: You can take a trip downtown at lunchtime without a 20-minute buffer to find parking. The Google Car is powered by an electric motor and a compact battery pack. Ever since we started the Google self-driving car project, we’ve been working toward the goal of vehicles that can shoulder the entire burden of driving. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. Google Self-Driving Car engines and driving. ![]()
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