Waymo Releases 43-Page Autonomous Car Safety Report

After eight years of testing and 3.5 million test miles, Google’s self-driving car company, Waymo, has released a comprehensive 43-page safety report.

Waymo’s safety report touches on how its autonomous software and hardware works, how it tests the systems and their durability and other aspects of autonomous driving such as cybersecurity, collision avoidance and what an autonomous vehicle does in the event of a collision.

Another important aspect of the report touches on the “aspirational design domain” of their autonomous cars, or the conditions under which a self-driving system can safely operate. This includes geographies, roadway types, speed range, weather, time of day, and state and local traffic laws and regulations. Waymo says its autonomous tech will be able to “navigate city streets in a variety of conditions within broad geographic areas,” drive in light to moderate rain and drive at night and during the day.

SEE ALSO: Waymo Wants Getting Hit by a Car to Hurt Less

Also of note is that the report claims Waymo’s prototypes, based on the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, is already capable of SAE Level 4 autonomous driving within a certain design domain. This means the vehicles are able to drive themselves without the need for human intervention and also bring themselves to a stop in the event of a system failure. Waymo has been testing its prototypes on the roads of Phoenix and the surrounding area and has also been giving the public rides in the prototypes through its Early Rider program. The self-driving vans can be summoned by users via an app – almost like Uber, except the rides are free of charge. Eventually, Waymo may an official offer a pay-to-ride autonomous taxi service, which would technically be legal by Arizona state law.

You can download and read Waymo’s full 43-page report here.

[Source: Forbes]