Waymo Talks About Its Next 10 Million Miles

Waymo has announced that its self-driving vehicles have eclipsed 10 million miles combined. That huge number of autonomous miles were driven in 25 cities across the US including locations in California, Arizona, and Michigan. The roads included high-speed roads near Phoenix and the urban streets of San Francisco.

Waymo also has big investments in virtual testing of its autonomous systems and will soon cross 7 billion autonomous miles driven. That is 10 million miles of virtual driving daily. In those sims Waymo can recreate any encounter had on the road and make the challenges even more difficult in simulation than they were in the real world.

Waymo says that 400 early riders used its app to ride in autonomous cars in Phoenix. While Waymo has already racked up an impressive number of miles, the company is looking to the next 10 million miles. The firm will focus over the next 10 million miles to turn the advancing technology into a service people will use. Waymo is aiming to be safe, capable, comfortable, and convenient.

Waymo is working on getting its vehicles into more places and part of that is ensuring that the vehicles can deal with changing weather. Specifically, Waymo is working to be sure its systems operate in heavy rain and snow. It's working on comfort for passengers and making the system aggressive enough to make fast lane changes.

Waymo is working on balancing the comfort of the passenger with safety. That means the Waymo vehicles take safer routes, even if it adds time to the trip. The vehicles will also choose the safest place to pull over even if it makes passengers walk further. Waymo is working on making routes, pick-ups, and drop-offs more efficient.

SOURCE: Waymo