Waymo was launched in 2009 by Google, as a part of its self-driving cars project, which gained tremendous momentum in the last decade.
Advait Berde
Automobile manufacturers worldwide have been in a race to develop driverless vehicles for quite a while now. Of them all, Google parent Alphabet owned Waymo is the current segment leader and the only company to launch fully-autonomous vehicles. But what is the science behind autonomous cars?
Autonomous vehicles are electronically integrated vehicles which can find their way and function without the need for human input. The demand for such cars has gained prominence over the years as a safety report from Waymo suggest that most of the road accidents involving cars have been due to human error. This can be due to various reasons such as drunk driving, not paying full attention, panic or stress and so on. Autonomous vehicles seek to eliminate this margin of error, thus making four-wheeled travel safer.
An autonomous vehicle is also typically driven by a fully-electric or a hybrid powertrain, thus making it extremely cost-effective and eco-friendly. It also combines a lot of analytical technology with electronic transmitters, giving them the ability to comprehend and calculate surrounding situations faster and more accurately than humans.
Waymo was launched in 2009 by Google, as a part of its self-driving cars project, which gained tremendous momentum in the last decade. Now functioning independently under Alphabet, Waymo has successfully clocked over five million miles on the road across 25 cities, while running computer-generated tests amounting to billions of miles. This has given the company a substantial amount of data which they use to perfect their driverless Chrysler Pacifica minivans.
A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group suggests that over 25% of the miles driven in the United States of America will be covered by autonomous cars by 2030. Though Waymo is leading the pack right now, auto giant General Motors (GM) is not far behind, and other manufacturers are following suit. Other companies like Tesla and Uber are also taking an interest.
American electric car manufacturer Tesla has been pushing towards creating a perfectly self-driven car since its inception. However, while they have successfully created and sold many electric cars, they are yet to reach the stage of a fully autonomous vehicle.
It can be expected that the autonomous technology will take a concrete form in the coming decade.
