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Re:Waymo to test its autonomous driving technology in over 1... by spankalee on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @03:01PM (#42870348)
I imagine they'll need a ton of testing and adjustments for driving in snow for all the conditions the car needs to detect and plan around, like the wheels slipping, or the car as a whole sliding down a hill. This is probably a separate effort from mapping out a city, but then needs to be tested in the real world.

I think Truckee and Tahoe offer this environment within reasonable driving distance to the main Waymo development campuses.

Re:Waymo to test its autonomous driving technology in over 1... by bryanlarsen on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @03:20PM (#42870623)
They're testing in Upper Minnesota and upstate New York. Upstate New York contains the snowiest city in the US, Syracuse.
Re:Waymo to test its autonomous driving technology in over 1... by spankalee on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @03:23PM (#42870661)
Ah, good point then!
Re:Waymo to test its autonomous driving technology in over 1... by AlotOfReading on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @04:35PM (#42871486)
Truckee/Tahoe is an extremely popular test area for bay area AV companies. Waymo's been testing there regularly since at least 2017.
Re:Waymo to test its autonomous driving technology in over 1... by DCH3416 on Wednesday January 29, 2025 @04:56PM (#42871742)
Not so much snow, as you have rapidly changing road conditions such as ice and freezing rain. And then factor in poor road markings and not always abundantly clear path finding.

The nice thing about EVs like they're using now. The electric motors are pretty good at responding and handling different road conditions, much faster than ICE vehicles since you can never quite predict what the engine is doing at a given moment.