Waymo Robotaxis Pass Emergency Vehicle Review. But One Got Stuck in a Roundabout (techcrunch.com) 14
An anonymous reader shared this report from The Verge:
Waymo's driverless vehicles can detect emergency vehicles, know how to respond to hand signals for traffic cops, and can be disabled manually when something goes wrong, according to an independent review of the company's first responder protocols. As such, the Alphabet company's first responder protocols passed an independent review conducted by Tüv Süd, a German tech inspection company. The firm's assessment found that Waymo's First Responder Program "meets industry standards" for responding to emergency situations, which is in line with the best practices set out in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)...
Waymo is staking out the position that it goes beyond what's required to prove that its vehicles are trustworthy... The company has also publicly released its own guide for first responders who are responding to incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The 32-page document includes a toll free number for getting in touch with remote operators, a visual guide for disabling the vehicle's autonomous mode, and instructions for how to disconnect the high-voltage battery. Waymo also hosts training sessions for police and fire officials in the cities in which it operates. The company says it has trained 15,000 first responders from over 75 agencies.
Gizmodo notes that Waymo's self-driving cars are already live for paying customers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, "with deployment in Miami coming soon." But Waymo's self-driving cars still attract some mockery online, reports TechCrunch: A video is circulating on social media showing a Waymo robotaxi going round and round on a roundabout — as if it is stuck in a loop. A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch there were no passengers onboard the vehicle in the video and said the company has already addressed the issue by deploying a software update to its fleet.
Waymo is staking out the position that it goes beyond what's required to prove that its vehicles are trustworthy... The company has also publicly released its own guide for first responders who are responding to incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The 32-page document includes a toll free number for getting in touch with remote operators, a visual guide for disabling the vehicle's autonomous mode, and instructions for how to disconnect the high-voltage battery. Waymo also hosts training sessions for police and fire officials in the cities in which it operates. The company says it has trained 15,000 first responders from over 75 agencies.
Gizmodo notes that Waymo's self-driving cars are already live for paying customers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, "with deployment in Miami coming soon." But Waymo's self-driving cars still attract some mockery online, reports TechCrunch: A video is circulating on social media showing a Waymo robotaxi going round and round on a roundabout — as if it is stuck in a loop. A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch there were no passengers onboard the vehicle in the video and said the company has already addressed the issue by deploying a software update to its fleet.
Not just a roundabout (Score:2)
Waymos get stuck all the time, including because of other Waymos [imgur.com].
Re: Not just a roundabout (Score:2)
Oh they can fix that (Score:2)
That is just because they don''t have enough LIDARs.
I read here and elsewhere all the time that having LIDARs solves all problems related to autonomous cars and Tesla will never work because they don't have LIDARs. And those engineers must really know their stuff because they post that all the time.
Just add some more LIDARs and it will be fine.
Aphantasics (Score:5, Interesting)
They ripped out a perfectly good intersection around here and put in a very small double-lane traffic roundabout/circle/rotary which has caused complete chaos.
I know a woman who had to go around three times to figure out how to get out and there was much beeping.
I feel for Waymo in this case - the humans are just as big of a problem as topology.
Where I grew up there were very large single-lane circles which gave you plenty of time to plot a course.
I can handle this tiny monstrosity but I truly believe it would fail a Disparate Impact Test challenge.
The ones were I grew up have all been replaced by intersections because of the high death rates.
These Urban Planners value theoretical efficiency above all else.
We need to stop making society more complex at every turn.
Re: (Score:2)
If people are whipping around the roundabout fast enough to have a significant death rate, they're doing it VERY wrong.
Re: (Score:3)
She should just use it the wrong way, only ever use the right lane. If everyone does it, it becomes a one lane roundabout, but not her problem.
This is why multilane roundabouts should use spiral lane marking. Teaches people how to use it and the people who want to persist in doing it wrong have to illegally cross a lane.
Not shocked (Score:3)
Americans can’t navigate roundabouts either.
look kids big ben parliament (Score:4, Funny)
look kids big ben parliament
Toll free number (Score:2)
Confidence interval (Score:2)
Last July, Phoenix police pulled over a driverless Waymo vehicle that was driving in the oncoming lane of traffic. The company blamed “inconsistent” construction signs [and] said these were minor occurrences
Did he ever return? (Score:2)
A video is circulating on social media showing a Waymo robotaxi going round and round on a roundabout — as if it is stuck in a loop.
Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Roundabout
Every day at quarter past five
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the taxi drives on by.
Well did he ever return, no he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may ride forever in a Robo Taxi
He's the man who never returned
(Reference. [youtube.com])
Re: (Score:2)
Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament