[msb-alumni] Waymo blog to stop shaming humans
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2017 15:53:02 -0500
BlankWaymo blog to stop shaming humans Marco della Cava , USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO ' Waymo, Google's newly renamed self-driving car division, has
decided to stop shaming humans.
Since 2015, Google's autonomous car team has been blogging monthly about both
the progress of the project as well as'the nature of the accidents suffered by
its fleet of Lexus hybrid SUVs and small two-person prototypes. In every
instance but one, fewer than a dozen all told, human drivers were at fault .
Typically, the accidents involved either distracted or anxious humans
rear-ending the Google cars at a stop light at walking speeds.
But while those blog posts about the project at large will continue on the
company's rebranded Waymo website , the PDF reports ended in November.
As is legally required of any company testing self-driving cars, Waymo
officials
say they'will continue to report any incidents to the California Department of
Motor Vehicles. Waymo also tests in Arizona, Washington and Texas, where there
is no accident report requirement. Recently, Uber began testing its
self-driving
Volvo SUVs near its headquarters here without a permit; the DMV threatened
legal
action, and Uber moved its cars to Arizona .
Anyone who got a kick out of reading about how humans seemed to be the biggest
issue with Waymo self-driving cars -- which now include a fleet of 100
self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids -- will now have to deep a
little deeper than the company site.
"We've replaced our PDF reports with a new blog and website to continue sharing
information about our technology," Waymo spokesperson Johnny Luu said in an
email to USA TODAY. "This is in addition to reports that we publish via the
California DMV website detailing safety-related disengages, and collisions
we've
experienced on the road."
Google started working on self-driving car technology more than seven years
ago,
tucking the small program under the wing of its GoogleX moonshot division. In
recent years, the company has made bolder moves toward commercializing its
technology,
hiring former Hyundai executive John Krafcik to oversee that transition.
Currently, some three dozen companies 'including automakers, tech firms and
smaller suppliers are working on self-driving car technology. Of those actively
testing the vehicles on public roads as opposed to private sites, Google had
been alone in being proactive about broadcasting what was happening to its cars
in the real world.
As self-driving cars become more integrated into public life, it will fall
largely to state and federal regulators to determine what aspects of the
revolutionary tech are proving safe and which need to go back to the drawing
board.
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