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Waymo Gets the Green Light To Test Fully Driverless Cars In California (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, has been granted permission to operate fully driverless cars without human drivers behind the steering wheel on public roads in California. The company is the first to receive a driverless permit in the state. Waymo will restrict its driverless test cars to the neighborhoods of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto. "We know this area well," the company said in a statement, noting it includes its own headquarters (housed within Google's X lab) as well as Alphabet's main campus. If it seeks to expand its testing, Waymo says it will notify the new communities first and obtain permission from the DMV.
Waymo's permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads, and highways with posted speed limits of up to 65 mph. "Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit," the company says. "We will gradually begin driverless testing on city streets in a limited territory and, over time, expand the area that we drive in as we gain confidence and experience to expand." Waymo won't offer rides to the public right off the bat; the company is close to launching its first commercial taxi service using its fleet of autonomous minivans in Phoenix, Arizona. "Eventually, we'll create opportunities for members of the public to experience this technology, as we've done in Arizona with our early rider program," Waymo says.
Waymo's permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads, and highways with posted speed limits of up to 65 mph. "Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit," the company says. "We will gradually begin driverless testing on city streets in a limited territory and, over time, expand the area that we drive in as we gain confidence and experience to expand." Waymo won't offer rides to the public right off the bat; the company is close to launching its first commercial taxi service using its fleet of autonomous minivans in Phoenix, Arizona. "Eventually, we'll create opportunities for members of the public to experience this technology, as we've done in Arizona with our early rider program," Waymo says.
Fully autonomous cars are right around the corner.
...when this division is renamed to WHAMMO.
....I'll just see myself out.
There's still a human backup driver, just not in the car. Read the article: constant remote monitoring by a human operator is required by this law.
The rule requires constant human monitoring while the car is in use. There's still a "driver", just not in the car. This is more of a publicity stunt than a real change.
Sorry fren but u a dum dum. 1550nm light is no more harmful than visible light on your skin. It won't even hurt people with Xeroderma Pigmentosum aka XP. However, the people it will hurt are the people that have Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity because that is purely psychosomatic.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Two years ago I had an argument with multiple SDC proponents who were claiming that Waymo had already been running driverless for six months.
I have not seen this large a difference between hype and substance since the first dot-bomb. SDC progress has been minimal over the last few years.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
Also required by common sense ... it will end up in undecidable conditions all day every day.
Just like they're forced to use taxis now?
Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
Does this mean we can expect to see Waymo driverless cars on the road?
I'll be here all week. Try the fish!
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
It's referring to SuperKendall (or SuperKendal). I don't know why.