Waymo advances AI research with new multifunctional simulator

Google’s driverless vehicle sister company Waymo has announced a new autonomous driving research tool called Waymax, which promises to help developers address complex Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning challenges in autonomous driving, robotics and computer vision. It says it has contributed to the research community through our Waymo Open Dataset initiative and through our academic publications in […]

Google revealed to have taken stake in Oxa

It’s been revealed that Google has invested in British driverless car company Oxa. The Telegraph newspaper reports that the company has taken a 3.5% stake in the Oxford University spin-out that aims to provide the operating system for driverless car fleets. It says company filings have revealed the investment. Google was a previously undisclosed investor […]

Cruise and Waymo To Charge Fares for Passenger Service in San Francisco

The California Public Utilities Commission is permitting driverless car developers Cruise and Waymo to conduct commercial passenger service using driverless vehicles in San Francisco. The approval includes the ability for both companies to charge fares for rides at any time of day. Prior to the approval, both companies operated in San Francisco and other areas […]

Driverless car kills dog in San Francisco

A Waymo driverless vehicle has run over and killed a small dog in San Francisco in a collision that has been deemed “unavoidable”. In a report filed with California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, Waymo says that on the 21 May, a small dog ran out into the road in front of a vehicle while it […]

Union blocks driverless expansion in San Francisco

The Teamsters Union in the USA has effectively stopped the expansion of autonomous carmaker Waymo following a unanimous vote by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The Union reports that the board agreed with its claim that the company “had not been forthright in its application to alter the use of a large distribution center […]

Driverless cars stop in San Francisco’s fog

Anyone who’s been to San Francisco knows the city is susceptible to fog, but they may not have thought its growing fleet of driverless vehicles would fall victim to it. However that’s what happened to five Waymo vehicles in dense fog on Tuesday morning, who pulled over on a street in the southwestern area of […]

Waymo job cuts exceed 200 this year

Google’s driverless car division has cut a further 137 jobs, bringing the total for the year to 209. Reuters reports the engineering jobs have been eliminated so Waymo can “focus on commercial success”. The job losses total around eight per cent of the company’s workforce. A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch that the layoffs, mostly in […]

San Francisco officials warn of safety dangers caused by driverless vehicles

It’s emerged firefighters in San Francisco were forced to break a driverless vehicle’s windows in order to get it moved from across a hose being used to fight a fire in the city last month. The event has been detailed in a joint letter from Directors at the city’s Municipal and County Transportation departments, and […]

San Francisco looks to slow introduction of driverless vehicles

It’s seen to be the capital of the world’s driverless vehicle technology, but now officials in San Francisco are asking the state of California to halt or scale back the expansion plans of Cruise and Waymo. NBC news reports repeated incidents in which cars without drivers stopped and idled in the middle of the street […]

Waymo rolls out driverless taxi service in American city of Phoenix

Google’s driverless car subsidiary Waymo has announced it will start taking fares in driverless vehicles from anyone with its app in the central area of Phoenix, Arizona. The widening of its service comes after months of testing, with millions of miles driven. Previously, the company had only been operating journeys with no safety driver behind […]