We wondered what Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai meant when he said on their earnings call last Thursday that for Waymos, “there is future optionality for personal ownership.”
Well, we only had to wait a minute to find out. Waymo announced today that they’re developing autonomous technology with a little automotive manufacturer you may have heard of: Toyota.
Tucked into the announcement, Waymo also plans to release a generalizable autonomous driving system for any given vehicle. Read our full analysis!
So, they do have details in the source docs: they specifically reference both ADS and ADAS.
ADAS is currently a Tesla FSD-type experience. You need an attentive human in the driver’s seat (for now). It’s a driver’s aid.
ADS is the wild west. That’s what Waymo currently provides in their autonomous fleet. No occupants, no problem.
I am stoked to see how it does what Toyota trucks do best, which is hauling trailers and going either down rough roads or going entirely off-road. I wasn’t mentally ready for this news today, so I have no idea what this means for the fully off-road experience.
I’d be very surprised if the system will work entirely off road, but gravel access roads would be amazing.