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I have a decent sense of where Tesla and Waymo are at in the SDC development competition, but where does Cruise stand? What kind of sensors, computation, vehicl

I have a decent sense of where Tesla and Waymo are at in the SDC development competition, but where does Cruise stand? What kind of sensors, computation, vehicles, where are they testing? In my limited knowledge, I'd guess Waymo is ahead of these other players, but do we know who is "in second" or who is second-closest to rolling out actual fully autonomous services?

MegaButts 7y ago
Nobody knows for sure since nobody is releasing anything meaningful (the disengagement reports are both voluntary and self-policed, with no standard for what constitutes a reported disengagement), but the general consensus is that Cruise is second behind Waymo.
- thenewwazoo 7y ago
  This comment should be rated higher. It's exactly true. The data are self-selected and self-reported, and the specific criteria for what qualifies is considered a trade secret.
  - repsilat 7y ago
    Anecdotally I see more Cruise cars in SF and more Waymo cars in Mountain View. I heard Cruise doesn't drive on freeways either, and that would affect disengagements per mile quite a bit. Still Cruise's disengagement rate is astonishingly high: 1000 disengagements every 0.19 miles[1], according to the Wall Street Journal ;-). 1: https://i.imgur.com/F0vqDCp.jpg https://i.imgur.com/F0vqDCp.jpg
    - MegaButts 7y ago
      That statistic is backwards - they have 0.19 disengagements per 1,000 miles, so roughly 5,000 miles per disengagement. But as previously mentioned, this is a wildly disingenuous number, literally orders of magnitude away from the reality of how their cars are performing on the road today.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
- solidasparagus 7y ago
  Adding on to this - the self-driving car space is pretty small (in terms of companies with realistic self-driving aspirations) and there's a good amount of movement of employees between companies. While it's hard to make judgements from the reported numbers, the consensus in the space is definitely that the leaders are Waymo followed by Cruise.
- haditab 7y ago
  Reporting the number of miles driven and the number of disengagements is required by law in CA. It is not voluntary. The reason some larger companies don't have reports is because they either didn't do autonomous testing in CA (many test in AZ) or that they do not consider their tests "autonomous" ( level 4 or above). This is the case for Tesla autopilot.
  - hef19898 7y ago
    Thanks for providing additional context
ypzhang2 7y ago
By disengagement reports cruise is second behind Waymo and these two are way ahead of everyone else. They are testing 160 or so Chevy bolts in California it seems like. https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2019/02/13/update-disengagement-reports-2018-final-results/ https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2019/02/13/update-dis...
- slg 7y ago
  It is a mistake to use that report as some type of ranking due to it only measuring disengagements on public roads in California. There are some big names on that list that simply have no data like Tesla, Ford, VW, and Lyft.
  - qroshan 7y ago
    Tesla isn't there because charlatan can't produce reports that would look good on Tesla. If it were he would be tweeting about it. If a California based company can't employ 4 dudes driving around California to provide this report (which is kinda important to get regulatory approval), you have to wonder how bad Tesla really is. The latest noise by Musk about Tesla's FSD is purely to raise money and take away the focus that he can't produce cars profitably. Nothing else
    - warp_factor 7y ago
      This is my feeling also. Tesla is absolutely nowhere, but they keep making noise and announcements. And what is amazing is that it works. Most people think Tesla is up there with the other self driving car companies
      - tim333 7y ago
        They have some quite impressive demo videos. Also they've been operating in demanding conditions compared to Waymo. eg NYC rush hour https://twitter.com/DrCamiloOrtiz/status/1114328048915099649 https://twitter.com/DrCamiloOrtiz/status/1114328048915099649 Lane change in heavy traffic https://twitter.com/hamids/status/1120472369762590722 https://twitter.com/hamids/status/1120472369762590722 while when reporters "Followed a Waymo Self-driving Car for Miles' the Waymos seemed to have some issues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spw176TZ7-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spw176TZ7-8

MegaButts 7y ago

Nobody knows for sure since nobody is releasing anything meaningful (the disengagement reports are both voluntary and self-policed, with no standard for what constitutes a reported disengagement), but the general consensus is that Cruise is second behind Waymo.

thenewwazoo 7y ago
This comment should be rated higher. It's exactly true. The data are self-selected and self-reported, and the specific criteria for what qualifies is considered a trade secret.
- repsilat 7y ago
  Anecdotally I see more Cruise cars in SF and more Waymo cars in Mountain View. I heard Cruise doesn't drive on freeways either, and that would affect disengagements per mile quite a bit. Still Cruise's disengagement rate is astonishingly high: 1000 disengagements every 0.19 miles[1], according to the Wall Street Journal ;-). 1: https://i.imgur.com/F0vqDCp.jpg https://i.imgur.com/F0vqDCp.jpg
  - MegaButts 7y ago
    That statistic is backwards - they have 0.19 disengagements per 1,000 miles, so roughly 5,000 miles per disengagement. But as previously mentioned, this is a wildly disingenuous number, literally orders of magnitude away from the reality of how their cars are performing on the road today.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
solidasparagus 7y ago
Adding on to this - the self-driving car space is pretty small (in terms of companies with realistic self-driving aspirations) and there's a good amount of movement of employees between companies. While it's hard to make judgements from the reported numbers, the consensus in the space is definitely that the leaders are Waymo followed by Cruise.
haditab 7y ago
Reporting the number of miles driven and the number of disengagements is required by law in CA. It is not voluntary. The reason some larger companies don't have reports is because they either didn't do autonomous testing in CA (many test in AZ) or that they do not consider their tests "autonomous" ( level 4 or above). This is the case for Tesla autopilot.
- hef19898 7y ago
  Thanks for providing additional context

ypzhang2 7y ago

By disengagement reports cruise is second behind Waymo and these two are way ahead of everyone else. They are testing 160 or so Chevy bolts in California it seems like. https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2019/02/13/update-disengagement-reports-2018-final-results/ https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2019/02/13/update-dis...

slg 7y ago
It is a mistake to use that report as some type of ranking due to it only measuring disengagements on public roads in California. There are some big names on that list that simply have no data like Tesla, Ford, VW, and Lyft.
- qroshan 7y ago
  Tesla isn't there because charlatan can't produce reports that would look good on Tesla. If it were he would be tweeting about it. If a California based company can't employ 4 dudes driving around California to provide this report (which is kinda important to get regulatory approval), you have to wonder how bad Tesla really is. The latest noise by Musk about Tesla's FSD is purely to raise money and take away the focus that he can't produce cars profitably. Nothing else
  - warp_factor 7y ago
    This is my feeling also. Tesla is absolutely nowhere, but they keep making noise and announcements. And what is amazing is that it works. Most people think Tesla is up there with the other self driving car companies
    - tim333 7y ago
      They have some quite impressive demo videos. Also they've been operating in demanding conditions compared to Waymo. eg NYC rush hour https://twitter.com/DrCamiloOrtiz/status/1114328048915099649 https://twitter.com/DrCamiloOrtiz/status/1114328048915099649 Lane change in heavy traffic https://twitter.com/hamids/status/1120472369762590722 https://twitter.com/hamids/status/1120472369762590722 while when reporters "Followed a Waymo Self-driving Car for Miles' the Waymos seemed to have some issues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spw176TZ7-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spw176TZ7-8