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Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

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Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#2
"Every vehicle-to-vehicle contact event in the first one million miles involved one or more road rule violations or dangerous behaviors on the part of the operator of the other vehicle."

That agrees with the California DMV reports. The usual problem is being rear-ended at slow speed when the autonomous vehicle detects a threat at an intersection and stops. That shows up over and over in California reports. The Arizona data has five occurrences of human drivers backing into a stationary Waymo vehicle, mostly in parking lots. That doesn't seem to be happening in California, probably because picking up people in parking lots isn't that common in San Francisco.

As more human-driven vehicles get auto-braking, the rear-ending problem will probably decrease. Really bright brake lights that flash when the autonomous vehicle detects a rear-end threat might help.

Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#3
post #2

"Every vehicle-to-vehicle contact event in the first one million miles involved one or more road rule violations or dangerous behaviors on the part of the operator of the other vehicle." That agrees with the California DMV reports. The usual problem is being rear-ended at slow speed when the autonomous vehicle detects a threat at an intersection and stops. That shows up over and over in California reports. The Arizon…

> probably because picking up people in parking lots isn't that common in San Francisco.

You could probably shorten that to "probably because parking lots aren't that common in San Francisco."

Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#5
post #4

One of the reports says that the accident was caused by the other driver looking at their phone. Could potentially the sensors of the waymo detect that and warn the other driver?

"Hey guys, self-driving is a decent sprint but I think you should expand the scope to include detecting and modeling driver behavior in nearby vehicles. Add a quick study for HCI to warn drivers of their dangerous aberrant behavior and I think we might have something real here!" - tropsis, 2023

Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#6
This is a breath of fresh air compared to the tesla approach which seems to be don't release any data that isn't biased. Waymo is being a responsible party here by releasing all this data even if some of the stuff around the waymo driver hitting roadway objects (like the parking lot bar or the shopping cart) is a little concerning.

Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#7
post #5
post #4

One of the reports says that the accident was caused by the other driver looking at their phone. Could potentially the sensors of the waymo detect that and warn the other driver?

"Hey guys, self-driving is a decent sprint but I think you should expand the scope to include detecting and modeling driver behavior in nearby vehicles. Add a quick study for HCI to warn drivers of their dangerous aberrant behavior and I think we might have something real here!" - tropsis, 2023

“You can start the next sprint now and we’ll get the final designs to you by Thursday.” -PMs everywhere

Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#8
If you don't want to read the full 30 page paper, Waymo has a blog post summarizing it: https://blog.waymo.com/2023/02/first-million-rider-only-mile...

It's refreshing to see Waymo continue to be transparent about their safety data. I guess it's easier to do when you have a stellar safety record.

Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#9
post #4

One of the reports says that the accident was caused by the other driver looking at their phone. Could potentially the sensors of the waymo detect that and warn the other driver?

They should program it to just slam on the brakes whenever it identifies a driver behind looking at a phone. Proactively bankrupt such people.

Re: Safety performance of the Waymo rider-only automated driving system [pdf]

#10
tl;dr: 20 collisions. 8 where another vehicle reversed into a stationary waymo vehicle. 6 where a vehicle rear-ended the waymo vehicle. 1 where a garbage truck hit a stationary waymo vehicle. 5 instances of the waymo vehicle hitting an object:

- a shopping cart

- a parking barrier

- a construction pylon

- a minibike (slid into the waymo's lane)

- a plastic sign (blew over onto the waymo)

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