3 ms·

I can believe it. I rode in a Waymo for the first time a couple days ago and it was incredible. No problems with the rain or bad San Francisco drivers. It was a

I can believe it. I rode in a Waymo for the first time a couple days ago and it was incredible. No problems with the rain or bad San Francisco drivers. It was a really smooth ride and I felt extremely safe.

dabeeeenster 3y ago
I was under the impression the LIDAR approach was compromised by rain? Did something change or did I not understand it right?
- ra7 3y ago
  That's just some good old Musk/Tesla propaganda. Waymo has developed a really high resolution lidar + some software magic means rain is no longer an issue for them.
  - jessriedel 3y ago
    Thanks. Any recommended reading links on this?
    - ra7 3y ago
      Their 5th gen Lidar point clouds compared it to previous gen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COgEQuqTAug&t=11601s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COgEQuqTAug&t=11601s They have a ton of literature at https://waymo.com/research/ https://waymo.com/research/ and tech talks on YouTube (search talks by Drago Anguelov). They make heavy use of simulators [1] where they simulate weather events and create their own weather maps [2]. It's a very sophisticated stack. [1] https://waymo.com/blog/2021/06/SimulationCity.html https://waymo.com/blog/2021/06/SimulationCity.html [2] https://waymo.com/blog/2022/11/using-cutting-edge-weather-research-to-advance-the-Waymo-Driver.html https://waymo.com/blog/2022/11/using-cutting-edge-weather-re...
      - jessriedel 3y ago
        Thanks!
      - guiomie 3y ago
        The kind of comment I expect from hacker news, thanks! Its impressive how the lidar resolution evolved as per the youtube video. The color added, i wonder if its post-processing.
- gumballindie 3y ago
  Probably using remote human operators to make numbers look better.
- itslennysfault 3y ago
  I thought the opposite. I thought this was one of the main reasons in favor of LIDAR vs regular cameras.
- altgoogler 3y ago
  The current Waymo driver uses cameras, RADAR and LIDAR, which are meant to compliment each other's capabilities. https://wondery.com/shows/how-i-built-this/episode/10386-the-future-of-driving-is-autonomous-with-dmitri-dolgov-of-waymo/ https://wondery.com/shows/how-i-built-this/episode/10386-the...
- WawaFin 3y ago
  there are many video showing waymo trips during rain or even (heavy) fog few examples : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aBNYcBoLI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aBNYcBoLI ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8TGFA6SfAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8TGFA6SfAo

dabeeeenster 3y ago

I was under the impression the LIDAR approach was compromised by rain? Did something change or did I not understand it right?

ra7 3y ago
That's just some good old Musk/Tesla propaganda. Waymo has developed a really high resolution lidar + some software magic means rain is no longer an issue for them.
- jessriedel 3y ago
  Thanks. Any recommended reading links on this?
  - ra7 3y ago
    Their 5th gen Lidar point clouds compared it to previous gen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COgEQuqTAug&t=11601s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COgEQuqTAug&t=11601s They have a ton of literature at https://waymo.com/research/ https://waymo.com/research/ and tech talks on YouTube (search talks by Drago Anguelov). They make heavy use of simulators [1] where they simulate weather events and create their own weather maps [2]. It's a very sophisticated stack. [1] https://waymo.com/blog/2021/06/SimulationCity.html https://waymo.com/blog/2021/06/SimulationCity.html [2] https://waymo.com/blog/2022/11/using-cutting-edge-weather-research-to-advance-the-Waymo-Driver.html https://waymo.com/blog/2022/11/using-cutting-edge-weather-re...
    - jessriedel 3y ago
      Thanks!
    - guiomie 3y ago
      The kind of comment I expect from hacker news, thanks! Its impressive how the lidar resolution evolved as per the youtube video. The color added, i wonder if its post-processing.
gumballindie 3y ago
Probably using remote human operators to make numbers look better.
itslennysfault 3y ago
I thought the opposite. I thought this was one of the main reasons in favor of LIDAR vs regular cameras.
altgoogler 3y ago
The current Waymo driver uses cameras, RADAR and LIDAR, which are meant to compliment each other's capabilities. https://wondery.com/shows/how-i-built-this/episode/10386-the-future-of-driving-is-autonomous-with-dmitri-dolgov-of-waymo/ https://wondery.com/shows/how-i-built-this/episode/10386-the...
WawaFin 3y ago
there are many video showing waymo trips during rain or even (heavy) fog few examples : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aBNYcBoLI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aBNYcBoLI ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8TGFA6SfAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8TGFA6SfAo