Waymo Is Offering To Help Cities Fix Their Potholes (theverge.com) 27
Waymo is launching a pilot with cities and Google's Waze to share pothole data collected by its robotaxis, giving local transportation departments a new way to find and fix road damage more quickly. "We realized, hey, once we're at scale, we can actually share this data with cities, which is something that they've asked for and something that we collect at scale," said Arielle Fleisher, Waymo's policy development and research manager. "And so we figured out a way to make that happen." The Verge reports: Waymo uses its perception hardware, including cameras and radar, as well as accelerometers and the vehicle's physical feedback system, to log every pothole its vehicles encounter. These sensors detect physical changes to the road's surface, such as tilt and movement when the vehicle encounters irregularities. Originally, Waymo knew it needed the ability to detect potholes so it could ensure that its vehicles slowed down to avoid damage or injury to the passenger. Later, the company realized this could be invaluable data for cities, too.
Under the new pilot program, that data will now be made available to cities' departments of transportation through a free-to-use Waze for Cities platform, which provides access to real-time, user-generated traffic data that officials can then use to make important decisions -- such as pothole repair. The platform also allows for Waze users to validate pothole locations through their own observations, decreasing the chances that city officials will be led astray by false positives.
Currently, many cities rely on a patchwork of non-emergency 311 reports and manual inspections to address their pothole problems. Waymo developed this pilot program after collecting years of feedback from city officials about the state of their highways and surface streets. The company is launching the new pilot in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta, where Waymo says it has already helped the city identify approximately 500 potholes. Fleisher said that Waymo would be open to expanding the project to other street maladies based on further feedback from officials. The company is eager to learn what other types of street condition or safety data might be valuable, she said. "We want to be responsive to cities," Fleisher said. "They are interested in safer streets and potholes are really a tough challenge for cities. So we really wanted to meet that need as part of our desire to be a good partner and to ultimately advance our goal for safer streets."
Under the new pilot program, that data will now be made available to cities' departments of transportation through a free-to-use Waze for Cities platform, which provides access to real-time, user-generated traffic data that officials can then use to make important decisions -- such as pothole repair. The platform also allows for Waze users to validate pothole locations through their own observations, decreasing the chances that city officials will be led astray by false positives.
Currently, many cities rely on a patchwork of non-emergency 311 reports and manual inspections to address their pothole problems. Waymo developed this pilot program after collecting years of feedback from city officials about the state of their highways and surface streets. The company is launching the new pilot in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta, where Waymo says it has already helped the city identify approximately 500 potholes. Fleisher said that Waymo would be open to expanding the project to other street maladies based on further feedback from officials. The company is eager to learn what other types of street condition or safety data might be valuable, she said. "We want to be responsive to cities," Fleisher said. "They are interested in safer streets and potholes are really a tough challenge for cities. So we really wanted to meet that need as part of our desire to be a good partner and to ultimately advance our goal for safer streets."
Diddums huwt youw tendew widdle utiwity fwunction? (Score:2)
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I suppose one could reasonably argue that having a complete dataset makes it easier for the city to optimize its repair schedule; they can see that there is a cluster in a given area and schedule a crew to fix all of them in one go rather then piecemeal. Yes they could do that today, but this way there is more certainty about the amount of work to be done.
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yes the flow charts and data analytics displayed in the BI apps will fix the pot holes.
as long as the mayors brother in law gets the contract to fix them
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I wonder. Certainly in suburbia yes. Cities though.
People have to be able to park, vehicles have to be able to get by in the opposite lane if you cone off an area being patched. I am not sure you can necessarily fix every hole in a give couple blocks at the same time without creating a significant traffic problem.
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I don't think they literally meant at the same exact time. I believe they meant in the same day, or at least in the same dispatch. Fixed one at a time, then on to the next.
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Have you ever reported a pot hole? I did, and it got fixed in a day. There are people who's job is to fix pot holes, but they're not out looking for them. Somebody has to report it to them.
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Really? (Score:2)
Oh good, more surveillance software disguised as a crowdsourced public resource. Is anyone fooled by this stuff anymore?
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problem (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yes this. In places like Sacramento downtown, it is pothole patches over old pothole patches with many existing unpatched holes still around.
Really the streets needed to be fully reground and repaved about 30 years ago. There is of course no money for that and everyone knows it (the money is being spent on other 'more important' things in California which I leave as an exercise for the reader as to what those things are).
If Waymo agrees to fix the holes or repave the streets, then yes, that would be a game-
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Yes this. In places like Sacramento downtown, it is pothole patches over old pothole patches with many existing unpatched holes still around.
Really the streets needed to be fully reground and repaved about 30 years ago. There is of course no money for that and everyone knows it (the money is being spent on other 'more important' things in California which I leave as an exercise for the reader as to what those things are).
California is a large state. Is the state responsible for every paved surface? How about the counties, cities, or municipalities? Are the roads better in the deep red regions of California?
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The city and county don't tax me on gasoline consumption. The state and the feds do tax me on gasoline consumption. The feds are suppose to use the money for keeping up on federal interstates and other DOT infrastructure. The state should be using this money to keep our roads well functioning. Alas, we have let mission creep set in deep and now have all sorts of little pet CDOT projects going on that don't do anything to support the vehicle driver, ie the folks driving to work...
The biggest issue with publi
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Useless data doesn't help (Score:2)
You don't need a techbro robotaxi to tell you where potholes are in Montreal. Just pick any random street in the city. It will have potholes. Finding them isn't part of the problem.
How will they determine how bad they are? (Score:4, Funny)
Will Waymo cars start aiming for potholes so they can use the suspension travel to determine how bad the potholes are?
The way to get the city to fix potholes (Score:5, Informative)
When you file a report, make sure to note that the pothole is big enough it could cause a bicyclist or motorcycle to lose control and become injured.
Then if someone *is* injured, there's proof the city knew about the problem and chose not to fix it in a timely manner. That's an automatic loss in a lawsuit.
Every pothole I've ever complained about this way has had a cone on it in a couple hours, and asphalt in a couple days.
If Waymo provides a free pothole database to the city, and the city chooses not to use it, then personal injury lawyers will have a field day. So I do think this will force a change in funding priorities.
Bahahaha (Score:2)
So I do think this will force a change in funding priorities.
You must be new here
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So I do think this will force a change in funding priorities.
You must be new here
Oh, they'll kick and scream the entire way. And beg for tax increases, since who could have foreseen any of this and this is all Trump's fault for cutting federal transportation spending, so you peasants need to dig deeper.
But they can either pay to fix the roads, or pay liability claims, or pay higher insurance rates. And only one of those three looks good at re-election time.
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That's easily fixed: Avoid any system that automatically locates potholes. If the city polices their own pothole location data, it can conveniently become permanently lost before a court case.
This is why government avoids a lot of 'improvements': It's not increasing quality and efficiency, it's making them responsible for tax-cuts, "right-sizing" and inflation.
A modest proposal (Score:2)
What Waymo also needs to do is use their lidar sensors to detect improperly parked dockless scooters, then forward that information to the cities so they can automatically fine Lime, Bird, Veo, et al. Then the scooter companies could retaliate by suing Waymo out of existence.
As the late Grumpy Cat wouldn't said, "I hope they both lose."
In related news ... (Score:2)
Nothing is a problem... (Score:2)
... until it affects rich people.
Good place to use the data (Score:2)