You may never have heard of Waymo before and may be thinking about it as the name comes up in the news more often lately. Better still, what does Waymo have to do with pet waste? I’ll try to address this and more from my personal experience with Waymo and the autonomous self-driving vehicle in this week’s blog.
Way Back in the Waymo Timeline
Waymo, as a concept was rooted back in 2005 – 2007 by Stanford’s winning DARPA team. I didn’t know what that was either, so I Googled it: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In a nutshell, they invest in technology for the U.S. Department of Defense. Google joined the fun in about 2009 and eventually was acquired by Alphabet Inc. in 2016.
What Is The Purpose of Waymo?
- To improve road safety and mobility through autonomous, fully driverless electric ride-hailing. Back in the day we would simply thumb a ride or hitchhike when we were in need of transportation.
- Ultimately using this technology in trucking and eventually consumer’s cars. Reminds me of Johnny Cab from the movie Total Recall.
- Waymo aims to shift routine transport to fully autonomous systems, and position itself as a scalable future provider of autonomous mobility. (Not my words, rather scraped from the internet.)
Is the Waymo Self Driving Vehicle Safe?
This was probably the most asked question as I stood near the line of visually impaired people waiting to get a look at the vehicle. Apparently, studies have shown 82 % fewer crashes with cyclists and motorcyclists. And, 92 % fewer with pedestrians. Along with reductions across other crash types compared to human drivers, including 96% fewer intersection injury crashes (NBC Bay Area).
Waymo and Dog Poop
So, what does this have to do with dog poop? Thought you’d never ask. Each year Scoop Masters has the privilege of attending the American Council of the Blind’s national convention in different cities across the U.S. This year it was in my home town of Dallas, TX. (No bizcation for me this year) We build and maintain guide dog relief areas at the hotel and clean up any accidents in the hotel.
Waymo has sponsored the doggie play room for the past two years, but this year was special. Waymo actually had a Waymo vehicle at the hotel for the blind and visually impaired folks to look at. I was expecting a ride around the city, but they were not set up for that… yet. They’re only set up in about a dozen areas like the Silicon Valley, Austin, Phoenix and parts of Los Angeles. Of course, they are mapping several other cites as I write.
When I first saw the Waymo mobile, the first thing I noticed, other than the spinning sensors and the large dome top with the cameras, was the car itself. It was a Jaguar! Might as well go all out when it comes to style. I read that they also use the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid mini vans too. The Hyundai Ioniq is also on the list of vehicles to retrofit with the Waymo technology.
What Some of the Convention Attendees Had to Say About Waymo
Interview with Wesley
Me: So, after checking out the Waymo mobile what was your impression of it?
Wesley: I just might be a happy camper though I still have a hard time justifying the cost. I wish they give more savings when they don’t have to hire a driver to drive the thing. You know that makes sense. So I wish they were cheaper than a Lyft, you know somebody gets to benefit from the automation.
Me: Are you concerned about the safety?
Wesley: I want some system of fault checking, quality texting on it and some redundant assistance to take over. At least it pulls over to the side of the road and stops in an emergency. If worse comes to worse they said the hazard comes on and it stops but that’s the very last resort because I don’t like to be rear-ended.
Me: Do you think you’ll feel safe in it when it does come to Portland?
Wesley: I like to sit I just tell myself to let the thing drive around other people, rack up some mileage before I try. Hopefully they’ll have any bugs works out and it won’t be wrecking. And the price point is good, then I’ll be on it if it’s in Portland.
Interview with Becky
Me: Okay here we go Becky, so what was your first impression about the Waymo self-driving vehicle?
Becky: You know when I got into it, I thought it was going to be a bigger vehicle than it was. It’s just a sort of standard size sedan car. But it was comfortable. I got in the back seat first just to check it out and then they let me get up front. I went around to the driver side and they said “no you can’t sit there.” Okay so I went back and sat in front. He showed me what the dashboard looks like and how to adjust the air conditioning. I didn’t get a lot more information than that and of course you have to have the app on your phone to be able to run it because it’s all touch screen. Which I knew that anyway, but my impression was “yeah I’d love to drive this thing.”
I live in Charlotte, North Carolina we don’t have it but I’m hearing that they’re starting to negotiate for it. Based on what I’ve heard from people who do have it and use it in Phoenix and in San Francisco, everything they say is just phenomenal about it. I think I would be a little nervous at first, you know I mean. It’s so new and you know that with anything new, there can be glitches and a glitch that’s a traffic accident could be a problem, but so I think I’d be a little bit nervous but that would not stop me from trying.
Interview with Katie
Me: Katie, what’s your opinion of the Waymo self-driving car?
Katie: I thought it was a very nice car. It was clean. My first concern was when I travel in the car, because I do plan to do it, how would I know when the car was there and how would I find it? They told me that on my phone I could push a button and the doors would open and I would get directions to the car and I thought that was pretty neat. However, I have to find it if I’m in the mall. How am I going to know where it is when I come out in the parking lot? That was one of my big concerns with it. I live in Daytona Beach, Florida and that we do not have it and he didn’t say anything about if we would be in negotiations. He did tell me that it is going to be done through Uber and the price would be about the same as Uber. That’s pretty neat.
Conclusion
It would appear that safety and price point are the main concerns when it comes to autonomous vehicles, along with simple logistics. At least with Uber and Lyft, a human driver can find you and direct you to your vehicle if you’re visually impaired. Will AI do that? Undoubtedly. As far as safety is concerned: Autonomous cars—especially those from leaders like Waymo and Cruise—are generally safer than human-driven vehicles in many driving scenarios, but not flawless. They’re always going to be accidents, hopefully fewer with technology.
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