#147 – Dmitri Dolgov: Waymo and the Future of Self-Driving Cars

Dec 20, 2020

Dmitri Dolgov, CTO of Waymo and a key figure in autonomous vehicles since their Google inception, discusses the evolution of self-driving technology. He shares thrilling anecdotes from the DARPA Urban Challenge that laid the groundwork for Waymo. Dolgov dives into the cutting-edge innovations of self-driving hardware and the significance of real-time data processing. He highlights user feedback's role in enhancing the experience of autonomous transport, and reflects on the ethical dilemmas faced in urban settings as technology advances into daily life.

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ANECDOTE

Early Programming

Dmitri Dolgov's first computer was an IBM AT in the late 80s.
He programmed games in Pascal, and a Japanese company offered to buy one.

ANECDOTE

Childhood Dream

As a child, Dmitri Dolgov dreamed of being a traffic control cop.
This fascinated him, despite his parents being physics professors.

ANECDOTE

DARPA Urban Challenge

Dmitri Dolgov joined Stanford's DARPA Urban Challenge team in 2006.
He worked on motion planning, and the team placed second.

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Dmitri Dolgov is the CTO of Waymo, an autonomous vehicle company. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:46) – Computer games
(12:52) – Childhood
(15:24) – Robotics
(16:14) – Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
(18:26) – DARPA Urban Challenge
(28:46) – Waymo origin story
(44:27) – Waymo self-driving hardware
(53:00) – Connected cars
(58:53) – Waymo fully driverless service in Phoenix
(1:03:14) – Getting feedback from riders
(1:11:28) – Creating a product that people love
(1:17:18) – Do self-driving cars need to break the rules like humans do?
(1:24:03) – Waymo Trucks
(1:29:41) – Future of Waymo
(1:42:53) – Role of lidar in autonomous driving
(1:55:53) – Machine learning is essential for autonomous driving
(1:59:55) – Pedestrians
(2:06:32) – Trolley problem
(2:11:00) – Book recommendations
(2:22:26) – Meaning of life