Are Autonomous Vehicles Finally Here? Buckle up!

[@a16z]

Topics Covered: 00:00 - A first look at Waymo 02:06 - "5 levels of autonomy 04:20 - Technology challenges 06:55 - The technology behind Waymo 11:58 - LiDAR vs video debate 16:21 - How Waymo differentiates 19:01 - Technological unlocks on the horizon 21:26 - The role of AI in autonomous vehicles 24:17 - How Waymo views safety 31:25 - Collaborating with regulators 37:12 - Learnings from the first 2m miles 39:48 - Driving user retention 44:16 - Waymo’s expansion strategy 47:55 - Changing regulation 48:42 - Societal unlocks enabled by autonomy 53:47 - Will self-driving cars replace humans? 54:26 - Closing thoughts

[@StephSmithio]

As I said at the end of the video, this was a really special experience for me after waiting a decade+ to get my license. Still a long way to go, but I feel very lucky that we live in an era where these are coming online. What a time to be alive!

[@wemba]

Do you plan to test out a Cruise vehicle as well? I love the naming of the vehicles

[@a16z]

Would you ride in an autonomous vehicle? Why or why not?

[@wemba]

Hell yeah! Still waiting to get off the waitlist for Cruise in SF

[@mhuwe]

Definitely! I can’t wait until I don’t have to drive anymore. I don’t even care what it looks like. Just give me a box with a small desk and a chair. Happy to let the car do the driving!

[@bodynutrition201]

When can I buy this. This would be great for taking kids to school and making deliveries

[@cweed]

Yes, I want this now!

[@striker44]

Why not?

[@robertopena6621]

Waymo is the only autonomous driving experience I’d feel comfortable sleeping 💤 in the backseat

[@dbasumallik1322]

Mind Blowing, never thought I would see this in my life time

[@TheDiplomat27]

This was a great interview. Lots of cool info. And the driving was very good too.

[@manp1039]

really good interview.. I found this after my search for more info about Waymo after the attack and destruction by a mob in SF a couple days ago.

[@striker44]

Waymo should go into ninja mode to protect itself.

[@andrewmoncada2712]

She’s a great interviewer

[@ichiyama898]

Although there is strong psychological resistance for the general public, driver shortages and improvement of the working environment are urgent issues in truck logistics.

[@jon-kl9mk]

I can see having more of these cars will be less accidents!

[@tuck1s]

Great progress! Love to see how this is developing - and 👋 hi Saswat! Hope you are well!

[@pranavmarla]

This was extremely informative. I wonder how long it would take until we can get a consumer version of this? I eagerly wait for the time when I don't have to drive myself anywhere.

[@striker44]

If this can work in India, then it can work anywhere.

[@yannisk7]

Incredible. We owe it to humanity and to ourselves to provide safer mobility options. The needless loss of life due to human overconfidence and negligence behind the wheel is an open wound for society, and technology will again provide for a better future. Excited!

[@Native722]

Waymo's self driving is more refined that Cruise's. Cruise plays it too safe, you think that's a good thing but it's actually hurting them.

[@davidignatiusanyaeche8101]

This is great episode. really interesting how AVs will truly transform how cities are architectured, managed, and grow.

[@judevector]

This is mind blowing

[@damnimloomin]

You should have asked what their strategy would be for expanding to rural areas and highway driving, and if they ultimately want to do longer inter city journeys.

[@5Gazto]

21:17, wait, the light was red for the Waymo car not the guy on the scooter, why did the Waymo manager say that the guy ignored the red light?

[@ArielChelsau]

I believe the light didn't turn green yet for the scooter. But for all we saw, Waymo ignored the fact that the first lane was empty, stopped behind that vehicle making a left on a yellow light and then proceeded on red. I'm not saying it was wrong it went through even though it was red, I'm saying that the proper, human thing, to do would have been to go around that vehicle from the front on the right lane. At least that's the standard behaviour where I live.

[@jbrum1000]

Where does it go after they drop you off just wondering about that where does it go cuz it has to pay for parking until its next assignment or does it just drives around until its next assignment

[@striker44]

They can be fed rider hailing data, and the car can figure out where to pull into to safely park, close to high probability ride hailing locations.

[@jbrum1000]

Ownership ownership ownership or maybe some sort of membership or subscription in the future where you don't even own the car you just share the car per say in the form of a membership subscription I live in the West Palm Beach area which is 30 minutes away from the Miami area where he tested the waymo for rain and we get a lot of rain here yes

[@jbrum1000]

How well does it perform in the dark evening

[@_____case]

Very well.

[@lucilaci]

Very cool, i want it in my Country! If only he would answer more of her auestrions directly...

[@blcsfo]

China has had functioning driverless taxi in Shenzhen for over two years now.

[@brentschmogbert]

They also have concentration camps for Uyghurs for many years now

[@wemba]

Started off in the Outer Sunset! I think I saw my house hehe

[@jituteron]

People in the future will surely remember the current times with horror that we were driving our own cars.

[@bodynutrition201]

Bring this to Tampa bay!

[@jituteron]

Elon Musk has still managed to convince many that Tesla's FSD is better. While I’ve read that his decision to ditch Lidar and radar was largely driven by cost considerations-a brilliant move-it’s worth noting that Tesla has yet to take the step of making passengers to sit in the back seat only, with no one at the wheel. In contrast, Waymo’s vehicles seem to have earned a higher level of trust. I’ve personally seen people confidently sitting in the back of Waymo cars in San Francisco, which makes me feel that Waymo might be further ahead in this space than Tesla. Elon, though, remains the best PR genius the world has ever seen-deceptively so.

[@Reddylion]

Intresting

[@paulvarcoe8536]

Wonderful!

[@테스트유튜브배우-x5c]

더 많은 유명한 유튜버들 다 초대해서 자율주행 타야됨. 미스터 비스트랑 세계 1위 2위 3위 4위 5위 유튜버들 다 모아서 다 타고 유튜브 올리라고해야됨. 자율주행만으로 미국 횡단하기 이런거 해봐야됨.

[@jbrum1000]

No more drunk driving no more no more drivers license no more tickets speeding that is no more registration no more car repairs the list goes on

[@topofthegreen]

I wish this was in Nashville e Tennessee.

[@drharishkrishnappa4087]

♥

[@madankd]

Great tech man

[@jimmyp1433]

is it just me or is half this video seem like its running at a nauseating 10fps

[@kuntal15]

Most of the human drivers only take defensive driving courses after getting traffic violation tickets or similar events. Majority of the human drivers today aren't safe drivers, often distracted and prone to making numerous mistakes. Imagine a world where everyone is a defensive, safe and polite driver! Well, that world may not happen in our lifetime, but the way Waymo is training its AI stack, that dream may come true sooner. The only problem I see in Waymo's strategy is the sheer number of sensors overloading the vehicle. This strategy is rather a brute force one. The cost and aesthetics are huge factors to make this technology ubiquitous, affordable and accessible to all.

[@jbrum1000]

It seems every time you get behind the wheel you'll have to drive for other drivers per say I hope this technology comes to the West Palm Beach area soon would love to have the experience nma no more accidents nmt no more tickets nmd d no more drunk driving

[@Innovate-pq9ci]

You should learn how to place your seatbelt. This configuration would result in major injuries.

[@wemba]

Steph explained on Twitter that the normal seatbelt position was messing with the microphone she was wearing, and that’s the only reason she was wearing it that way.

[@StephSmithio]

⁠@@wembayes! Thanks for clarifying here. You can see early on how I typically put it on and how the mic was getting twisted in it (see 3:27)

[@jmsaltzman]

Aside for poor road conditions and bad weather, I think there will be unforeseen circumstances that will reveal that not having a (human) driver can be dangerous in ways that are not being discussed.

[@krause79]

The opposite might be happening, without humans driving you are removing reckless drives, drunk , rage drivers, falling asleep, etc.

[@kevinc721]

Like what, why don’t you actually try and be specific

[@miles5600]

so what do they actually wanna achieve with this?

[@alanvonweltin6820]

This video has metric tons of kool-aid just sloshing around everywhere

[@noel3422]

Honestly I feel if the government is going to allow ai cars to be on the road with human drivers, as a human driver I feel a need to have knowledge of every route any ai car takes so I can take another route, during your many years of testing since human and ai do not mix, ai cars cannot know all the stupid crap that happens with human drivers and as a human I do not want to take part in your test.

[@zimpreneur]

Cool to see. It feels like they are both talking past each other and not really listening to the other. The chicken-necking to see whats going on and all the yeah, yeahs made it very distracting and chaotic.

[@jbrum1000]

It seems much much much safer than human driving buy my own personal experience in life

[@OwenRULESSS]

I feel like this was way too high level to be useful. Didn’t really answer the key question in the title (of the Spotify podcast at least)

[@hymalathamateti4982]

We can do kiss and do romance in this kind of car. No one sees

[@onlybryanliu]

hows it gonna fare against Tesla?

[@zlonewolf]

Tesla FSD is still in beta...since 2012.🤣

[@nikhilrodye8226]

tesla will get religion of lidar

[@JPP108]

Without lidar Tesla will never get to Level 4, will be stuck in Level 2

[@_____case]

​@@JPP108I think they'll eventually get to L4 without lidar. Might be 3-5 more years.

[@J5L5M6]

Haven't you all been investing in autonomous mobility projects for just shy of a decade? The PR team would benefit the firm by dropping a tad more effort than this propaganda...

[@flech3025]

These cars have repeatedly proven they are unable to do basic problem solving like navigate around road closures. These cars are dangerous, they are making traffic worse and they should not be driving around without a person at the wheel.

[@StephSmithio]

You should check out 55:38. :)

[@flech3025]

@@StephSmithio kzbin.info/www/bejne/joixgWd-ebxoosU&ab_channel=ABC7NewsBayArea kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJWxZmyajbqngtU&ab_channel=ABC7NewsBayArea

[@kevinc721]

Clearly don’t know what your talking about

[@Katana_00]

Don’t care.