Google’s self-driving division Waymo has announced it will be retiring the Firefly car, the nearly iconic pod-like vehicle that was manufactured in-house to experiment. Waymo is now moving to mass produced vehicles, like the Chrysler Pacifica minivan. It received 600 minivans from Fiat Chrysler last year and is in the process of outfitting the vehicles… Read more »
Google’s self-driving division, Waymo, has received a patent for an automotive design where the car loses rigidity before a crash, minimizing the damage to the rider and any other cars. Waymo would achieve this by reducing the tension of hood, panels and bumpers before an accident, according to Silicon Beat. The release of tension should,… Read more »
Waymo’s self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans spent a day with Chandler, Ariz Fire & Police Department, testing the car’s detection system for emergency vehicles. The minivans are outfitted with Waymo’s latest suite of sensors, which can hear from twice the distance and can also see flashing lights from much farther away. See Also: Google narrows case… Read more »
Self-driving cars are going to be fitted with a whole lot of sensors, chips, and other electronics, so it makes sense to check that all of this works in extreme environments. That’s why Waymo sent its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans to California’s Death Valley this summer, which has the highest recorded temperature in the world,… Read more »
Waymo has dropped three of the four patent claims against Uber, as it tries to narrow the case against Uber before the October court date. The lawsuit centers on Anthony Levandowski, an ex-Google exec who allegedly stole 14,000 confidential documents when he left the company to start Otto, which was then sold to Uber. Levandowski… Read more »
Waymo, the self-driving division inside of Alphabet, has partnered with car rental company Avis to manage its fleet of autonomous cars in Phoenix, Arizona. Avis will be responsible for cleaning the car, managing oil and tire changes, and performing regular safety inspections. It will not manage the specialized hardware, like Waymo’s Lidar sensors. See Also:… Read more »
Google’s self-driving division Waymo has hired Satish Jeyachandran, the former director of hardware engineering at Tesla, a close competitor in the self-driving race. Jeyachandran will lead the hardware division, according to Bloomberg, focused on building Lidar, radar, cameras, sensors, and silicon for the company’s self-driving cars. See Also: Waymo working on competitor to Uber’s self-driving… Read more »
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced last December that its self-driving project would have its own division inside the corporation. That division became Waymo, which analysts at Morgan Stanley believe could be worth $70 billion if it is ever spun-out to a standalone company. The analysis works off the assumption that Waymo cars and… Read more »
Waze is expanding its carpool service to cover the entire state of California, after successful trials in San Francisco, Sacramento, Monterey, and across Israel. The app identifies suitable commuters that live in between the driver’s home and work locations. The rider pays their share of the gas money in exchange for the ride, which currently… Read more »
Waymo, the self-driving division of Google, has confirmed that alongside an expansion to its autonomous car efforts, it is looking to develop self-driving trucks. “We’re taking our eight years of experience in building self-driving hardware and software and conducting a technical exploration into how our technology can integrate into a truck,” a Waymo spokesperson said… Read more »
