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Waymo Setting the Benchmark for Self-Driving Cars
06 November 2018
As technology is advancing at an alarming rate, it is becoming only a matter of time before driverless cars are a regular topic of conversation with individuals around the world. In the United States, Waymo and the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced earlier this week that the Golden State has approved a permit for the company, who specialise in self-driving cars, to drive across a section of Silicon Valley cities.
Since 2014, Waymo has been allowed to operate autonomous cars under state law, allowing the company to test a fleet of up to three dozen vehicles without a driver being present behind the wheel. Waymo has been given permission to test these vehicles in fog and light rain conditions, with a top speed of up to 65 miles per hour. While all this innovation is exciting, there are clear concerns which arise from brand new technology, one of being if the vehicle encounters a difficult situation, what is the reaction?
Waymo has commented that when one of its driverless vehicles encourages a difficult situation it doesn’t understand, the automatic process is to come to a “safe stop”, as the vehicle has well-established protocols that include contacting fleet and rider support in the case of emergency. Waymo announced at the start of October that its collection of autonomous vehicles has driven over 10 million miles on public roads in the United States since it began working on the self-driving technology in 2009.
At this moment in time, Waymo haven’t invited members of the public to test these driverless cars, until this technology has been tested by Waymo employees. The United States company has stated that they will eventually “create opportunities for members of the public to experience this technology”.
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(photo credit to Waymo)
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