Google's self-driving car manufacturer Waymo announces the 6th generation 'Waymo Driver' that reduces costs and improves performance

Waymo, a company under the umbrella of Alphabet, the same group as Google, which develops self-driving cars, has announced the sixth generation model of its self-driving car , the Waymo Driver . The Waymo Driver is said to be the latest self-driving car with higher resolution, range and computing power than ever before, while achieving significant cost reductions.

Meet the 6th-generation Waymo Driver: Optimized for costs, designed to handle more weather, and coming to riders faster than before
https://waymo.com/blog/2024/08/meet-the-6th-generation-waymo-driver/

Waymo generation 6 robotaxi Geely Zeekr
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/19/waymo-generation-6-robotaxi-geely-zeekr.html

Waymo's sixth-generation autonomous fleet has fewer sensors 'without compromising safety'
https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymos-sixth-generation-autonomous-fleet-has-fewer-sensors-without-compromising-safety-175339320.html

Redundancy is essential for autonomous driving systems to ensure reliability and provide safe backup capabilities in case of unexpected weather. That's why Waymo Driver understands its surroundings from three complementary sensing modalities. With an enhanced camera radar surround view and a high-performance LiDAR system, the 6th generation sensor suite consists of 13 cameras, 4 LiDARs, 6 radars, and an external audio receiver (EAR). This allows the vehicle to safely respond to a wide range of events it may encounter in a wide range of road conditions. The 6th generation sensor suite of Waymo Driver can understand the entire circumference of the vehicle up to 500 meters, day or night, and in a variety of weather conditions.


Advances in sensor technology and strategic placement allow for a reduction in the number of sensors while maintaining redundancy that is critical for safety. This approach prioritizes safety while also allowing the autonomous driving system to be optimized. Sensor components can also be swapped out for operation in specific environments, such as adjusting sensor cleaning for cold climates.

The previous generation Waymo Driver is already in operation as an autonomous taxi in several cities in the United States. Waymo claimed that in cities where it offers autonomous taxi services, it provides safe and reliable service to passengers even in extreme heat, fog, rain and hail. It also revealed that it has gained a better understanding of how winter weather affects Waymo's technology and operations, and has applied these insights directly to its sixth-generation system.

For example, because Waymo vehicles are exposed to the elements for long periods without manual intervention, the company has implemented preventative measures in each sensor to ensure they maintain a clear view of their surroundings, even when driving on rough Texas roads or operating in sub-freezing temperatures. To complement these strategies and ensure reliable performance in adverse conditions, the company has built ample headroom into its sensor capabilities to extend the range of each modality.

The sixth-generation hardware is already in production and has been integrated into thousands of Waymo Drivers. To safely and quickly integrate the next-generation system into vehicles, Waymo is meticulously validating the new hardware from the component to system level through closed-course testing, simulation, and public road testing.


The sixth generation sensor suite has already accumulated thousands of kilometers of driving experience in the real world and millions of kilometers of experience in simulation. Since the Waymo Driver learns from data collected by every vehicle to date, the number of mileages required to train the basic model is significantly reduced. Waymo emphasizes that this has accelerated and strengthened the development of the next-generation Waymo Driver.