Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M miles in SF and Phoenix

Re:Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M ... by jsheard on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:30PM (#40720163)

Miles driven is only one axis of many, does Waymo get from A to B as quickly as the average human driver would, or does it play it safe by staying in the slow lane and taking suboptimal routes to avoid challenging areas?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M ... by mxwsn on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:37PM (#40720232)

In SF, waymo isn't particularly slow, and drives remarkably humanlike to me, unlike Cruise which regularly took 2x as long to drive anywhere as a human would, and drove very much not like a human would.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M ... by 1970-01-01 on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:33PM (#40720191)

Another bias is baked into this announcement: how would it fare in Boston, NYC, or DC? Are they better because they're better than humans or are they better because they're cherry-picking their test cities?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M ... by throwup238 on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:36PM (#40720218)

San Francisco is not Manhattan but its hardly an ideal driving environment. It’s a lot harder to drive there than Phoenix.

Narrow streets packed with park cars, lots of bikes and pedestrians jaywalking, a homeless population that spills over into infrastructure, etc. It’s a good test case for most US cities that aren’t NYC.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M ... by 1970-01-01 on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:39PM (#40720255)

It isn't due to weather. SF weather is nowhere near equivalent to Boston or NYC weather.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M ... by noiseinvacuum on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:42PM (#40720270)

And lets not forget the hills. Driving in SF is no joke. In my 20+ rides with Waymo, it feels that it drives more confidently than most Uber drivers I've had experience with.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Waymo Driver 3.5x better at avoiding injuries over 14.8M ... by romwell on Tuesday June 18, 2024 @01:43PM (#40720283)

It also means that everyone is driving significantly slower, while making frequent stops.

A LIDAR is pretty much all you need to avoid a collision. It's a pretty forgiving environment.

[ Parent | on HN ]