The Waymo World Model • Hacker News Board

Re: The Waymo World Model

#21

Post by smallmancontrov » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:04 PM UTC

bonsai_spool wrote: post #6

xnx wrote: post #2

> The Waymo World Model can convert those kinds of videos, or any taken with a regular camera, into a multimodal simulation—showing how the Waymo Driver would see that exact scene. Subtle brag that Waymo could drive in camera-only mode if they chose to. They've stated as much previously, but that doesn't seem widely known.

I think I'm misunderstanding - they're converting video into their representation which was bootstrapped with LIDAR, video and other sensors. I feel you're alluding to Tesla, but Tesla could never have this outcome since they never had a LIDAR phase. (edit - I'm referring to deployed Tesla vehicles, I don't know what their research fleet comprises, but other commenters explain that this fleet does collect LIDAR)

They can and they do.

https://youtu.be/LFh9GAzHg1c?t=872

They've also built it into a full neural simulator.

https://youtu.be/LFh9GAzHg1c?t=1063

I think what we are seeing is that they both converged on the correct approach, one of them decided to talk about it, and it triggered disclosure all around since nobody wants to be seen as lagging.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#22

Post by ra7 » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:04 PM UTC

The novel aspect here seems to be 3D LiDAR output from 2D video using post-training. As far as I'm aware, no other video world models can do this.

IMO, access to DeepMind and Google infra is a hugely understated advantage Waymo has that no other competitor can replicate.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#23

Post by __alexs » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

uejfiweun wrote: post #8

xnx wrote: post #2

> The Waymo World Model can convert those kinds of videos, or any taken with a regular camera, into a multimodal simulation—showing how the Waymo Driver would see that exact scene. Subtle brag that Waymo could drive in camera-only mode if they chose to. They've stated as much previously, but that doesn't seem widely known.

I've always wondered... if Lidar + Cameras is always making the right decision, you should theoretically be able to take the output of the Lidar + Cameras model and use it as training data for a Camera only model.

> you should theoretically be able to take the output of the Lidar + Cameras model and use it as training data for a Camera only model.

Why should you be able to do that exactly? Human vision is frequently tricked by it's lack of depth data.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#24

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #11

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #3

What's going to happen to all the millions of drivers who will lose their job overnight? In a country with 100 million guns, are we really sure we've thought this through?

Waymo has been operating since 2004 (22 years ago), and replacing drivers on the road will take many more decades. Nothing is happening "overnight".

[deleted]

Re: The Waymo World Model

#25

Post by olex » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:06 PM UTC

bob_theslob646 wrote: post #17

olex wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what Tesla is doing with their validation vehicles, the ones with Lidar towers on top. They establish the "ground truth" from Lidar and use that to train and/or test the vision model. Presumably more "test", since they've most often been seen in Robotaxi service expansion areas shortly before fleet deployment.

Is that exactly true though? Can you give a reference for that?

I don't have a specific source, no. I think it was mentioned in one of their presentation a few years back, that they use various techniques for "ground truth" for vision training, among those was time series (depth change over time should be continuous etc) and iirc also "external" sources for depth data, like LiDAR. And their validation cars equipped with LiDAR towers are definitely being seen everywhere they are rolling out their Robotaxi services.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#26

Post by markvdb » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:07 PM UTC

gadflyinyoureye wrote: post #10

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #3

What's going to happen to all the millions of drivers who will lose their job overnight? In a country with 100 million guns, are we really sure we've thought this through?

Those are rookie numbers. The US has 400 million guns. https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/united-states-gun-owners... As to the revolt, America doesn't do that any more. Years of education have removed both the vim and vigor of our souls. People will complain. They will do a TikTok dance as protest. Some will go into the streets. No meaningful uprising will occur. The poor and the affected will be told to go to the…

> Ultimately the US will go down hill to become a Belgium.

Sharing one's opinion in a respectful way is possible. Less spectacle, so less eyeballs, but worth it. Try it.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#27

Post by xnx » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:08 PM UTC

mgaunard wrote: post #13

Still needs to be trained on the final boss: dense cities with narrow streets.

What would be an example city? Waymo just announced they're ramping up in Boston: https://waymo.com/blog/?modal=short-back-to-boston

"we’re excited to continue effectively adapting to Boston’s cobblestones, narrow alleyways, roundabouts and turnpikes."

Re: The Waymo World Model

#28

Post by Rebelgecko » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #5

"Autonomous" https://cybernews.com/news/waymo-overseas-human-agents-robot...

My understanding is that support is basically playing an RTS (point and click), not a 1P driving game. Which makes sense, if they were directly controlling the vehicles they'd put support in central America for better latency, like the food delivery bot drivers

Re: The Waymo World Model

#29

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

bob_theslob646 wrote: post #17

olex wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what Tesla is doing with their validation vehicles, the ones with Lidar towers on top. They establish the "ground truth" from Lidar and use that to train and/or test the vision model. Presumably more "test", since they've most often been seen in Robotaxi service expansion areas shortly before fleet deployment.

Is that exactly true though? Can you give a reference for that?

[deleted]

Re: The Waymo World Model

#30

Post by bonsai_spool » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

gadflyinyoureye wrote: post #10

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #3

What's going to happen to all the millions of drivers who will lose their job overnight? In a country with 100 million guns, are we really sure we've thought this through?

Those are rookie numbers. The US has 400 million guns. https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/united-states-gun-owners... As to the revolt, America doesn't do that any more. Years of education have removed both the vim and vigor of our souls. People will complain. They will do a TikTok dance as protest. Some will go into the streets. No meaningful uprising will occur. The poor and the affected will be told to go to the…

> Ultimately the US will go down hill to become a Belgium.

I'm curious why you say this given you start by highlighting several characteristics that are not like Belgium (to wit, poor education, political media capture, effective oligarchy). I feel there are several other nations that may be better comparators, just want to understand your selection.