Many automobile companies have been dabbling with self-driving technologies for years. However, it appears Waymo has cracked the code to make, and it shared a substantial amount of information in one of its reports. The report in question details the safety precautions one must undertake while building an Autonomous Car. After years of keeping things under wraps, the Mountain View-based company released an extensive 43-page report detailing its technology. By the looks of the report, it appears that Google’s is finally ready to bring its self-driving car on the road for commercial use.
Google releases detailed report
On Thursday, October 12, Google shared the report titled “On the Road To Fully Self-Driving.” The report contains details regarding the sensor and software of the firm’s autonomous car technology. Prior to the release of this report, the Mountain View-based company also started a "Let's Talk Self-Driving" promotion. This was undertaken by the firm to spread awareness among the masses regarding the new technology. It appears that Google is gearing up to launch a full-blown campaign to familiarize people with this new concept and that will soon become common on roads.
Waymo gives reassurance regarding autonomous driving safety
The extensive report on Waymo’s autonomous driving technology is an attempt from the company to provide people a peek into the safety concerns the firm undertakes while making the vehicle.
The report delves deeply into how the car’s system will operate on its own in public, how the company will test, as well as the what steps it will take to ensure pedestrian and passenger safety while the autonomous car plays on the road.
Waymo in its report, as well as the campaign, frequently uses a term “safety by design” to describe every step of its car making process when the autonomy technology is incorporated into the system.
For instance, the report documents the behavioral safety of the car, which basically shows how an autonomous car makes decisions while driving on the road. Apart from that, the report also tells its readers about functional safety, that ensures that the car works properly and safely, in case an error is detected in the system or faults are discovered.
Apart from these two major safety factors, Waymo also lays stress on the vehicle’s crash safety. For the unfamiliar, it is currently using only Chrysler Pacifica minivans, which has already passed the standard federal crash tests with flying colors. While many of these safety concerns are programmed into the system, the autonomous driving technology is also given inputs via real-world testing scenarios, as well as functional and simulation analysis.
