Bold Names Driverless: Waymo and the Robotaxi Race—Under the Hood
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Dec 15, 2024 Waymo is leading the charge in the driverless car race, but faces stiff competition from Tesla and Amazon's Zoox. The podcast dives into differing tech philosophies—Waymo’s LiDAR versus Tesla's camera focus—highlighting regulatory hurdles in California. It also discusses the financial landscape, including partnerships and challenges that impact profitability in the ride-sharing market. Finally, the conversation touches on Waymo's strategic growth and the significance of brand loyalty amidst industry competition.
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Tesla's CyberCab Unveiling
- Tesla unveiled its driverless car prototype with a flashy presentation featuring Elon Musk and a SpaceX spacesuit.
- The car drove itself on stage with no steering wheel, which Musk called the "cybercab."
LiDAR vs. Cameras
- Waymo uses LiDAR, laser-based sensors, for its driverless cars to detect surroundings.
- Tesla, however, uses cameras and AI, believing LiDAR is unnecessary and expensive.
End-to-End Machine Learning
- Tesla uses end-to-end machine learning, feeding data from its cars into an AI to train driverless systems.
- This method makes it easier to handle common situations but struggles with rarer events, raising safety concerns.