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The Waymo World Model

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Re: The Waymo World Model

#301

Post by anigbrowl »

ChadNauseam wrote: post #90
FL33TW00D wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely false: https://x.com/i/status/2019213765506670738 Listen to the statement. The operators help when the Waymo is in a "difficult situation". Car drives itself 99% of the time, long tail of issues not yet fixed have a human intervene. Everyone is making out like it's an RC car, completely false.

Whenever something like this comes out, it's a good moment to find people with no critical thinking skills who can safely be ignored. Driving a waymo like an RC car from the philippines? you can barely talk over zoom with someone in the philippines without bitrate and lag issues.

Except that's not what the original posters said, rather 'operators making major decisions.' Don't strawman here, it wastes everyone's time.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#302

Post by hosh »

brokencode wrote: post #266
phkahler wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has been doing more R&D and internal deployment of AI and less trying to sell it as a product. IMHO that difference in focus makes a huge difference. I used to think their early work on self-driving cars was primarily to support Street View in thier maps.

There was a point in time when basically every well known AI researcher worked at Google. They have been at the forefront of AI research and investing heavily for longer than anybody. It’s kind of crazy that they have been slow to create real products and competitive large scale models from their research. But they are in full gear now that there is real competition, and it’ll be cool to see what they release over th…

I also think the presence of Sergey Brin has been making a difference in this.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#303

Post by uoaei »

mattlondon wrote: post #89

Suddenly all this focus on world models by Deep mind starts to make sense. I've never really thought of Waymo as a robot in the same way as e.g. a Boston Dynamics humanoid, but of course it is a robot of sorts. Google/Alphabet are so vertically integrated for AI when you think about it. Compare what they're doing - their own power generation , their own silicon, their own data centers, search Gmail YouTube Gemini wor…

What an upsetting comment. I'm glad you came around but what did you think was going to be effective before you came around to world models?

Re: The Waymo World Model

#304

Post by semiquaver »

iamtheworstdev wrote: post #161
ASalazarMX wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At first I gave him the benefit of the doubt, like that weird decision of Steve Jobs banning Adobe Flash, which ran most of the fun parts of the Internet back then, that ended up spreading HTML5. Now I just think he refused LIDAR on purely aesthetic reasons. The cost is not even that significant compared to the overall cost of a Tesla.

he didn't refuse it. MobileEye or whoever cut Tesla off because they were using the lidar sensors in a way he didn't approve. From there he got mad and said "no more lidar!"

Assuming what you say is true, are they the only LIDAR vendor?

Re: The Waymo World Model

#306

Post by g947o »

xnx wrote: post #279
caycep wrote: post #265

All this work is impressive, but I'd rather have better trains

Isn't a vehicle that goes from anywhere to anywhere on your own schedule, safely, privately, cleanly, and without billions in subsidies better?

Not necessarily, and your premise is incorrect.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#307

Post by frenchy »

jrm4 wrote: post #163

1. Still hard not to think that this is a huge waste of time as opposed to something that's a little more like a public transport train-ish thing, i.e. integrate with established infrastructure. 2. No seriously, is the filipino driver thing confirmed? It really feels like they're trying to bury that.

As someone who half-learned to drive in Manila, the idea that they would use Filipino drivers as backups is ironic.

For context, my "driver's test" was going to the back of the office, and driving some old car backwards and forwards a few meters.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#308

Post by appreciatorBus »

xnx wrote: post #279
caycep wrote: post #265

All this work is impressive, but I'd rather have better trains

Isn't a vehicle that goes from anywhere to anywhere on your own schedule, safely, privately, cleanly, and without billions in subsidies better?

Trains only require subsidies in a world where human & robot cars are subsidized.

As soon as a mode of transport actually has to compete in a market for scarce & valuable land to operate on, trains and other forms of transit (publicly or privately owned) win every time.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#309

Post by refulgentis »

hosh wrote: post #302
brokencode wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a point in time when basically every well known AI researcher worked at Google. They have been at the forefront of AI research and investing heavily for longer than anybody. It’s kind of crazy that they have been slow to create real products and competitive large scale models from their research. But they are in full gear now that there is real competition, and it’ll be cool to see what they release over th…

I also think the presence of Sergey Brin has been making a difference in this.

Ex-googler: I doubt it, but am curious for rationale (i know there was a round of PR re: him “coming back to help with AI.” but just between you and me, the word on him internally, over years and multiple projects, was having him around caused chaos b/c he was a tourist flitting between teams, just spitting out ideas, but now you have unclear direction and multiple teams hearing the same “you should” and doing it)
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