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Waymo / Google Chauffeur

Begun as Google Chauffeur, now spun out as Waymo, this was the first and is still almost universally viewd as the preeminent team in the field. They operate the limitd Waymo One service in the Phoenix area with live customers.

Summary

Chauffeur was formed at Google by Larry Page, from winners of the DARPA Grand Challenge races and the Google Streetview team among others. In late 2009, it came out of stealth after driving 100,000 miles on public roads

Vehicle Photo

Sensors & Hardware

The current vehicle, a custom modified Chrysler Pacifica minivan has an array of Waymo's own custom LIDARs, along with an array of cameras and radars. On the roof is a dome including Waymo's long-range GBR LIDAR and a camera array. On the sides are shorter range LIDARs to see areas not visible from the dome.

Waymo has had 5 different vehicles:

  1. A Toyota Prius with Velodyne VL-64 on top, wheel encoders, GPS, IMU, Bosch radar and cameras behind the windshield.
  2. A Lexus RX450 hybrid SUV with a similar sensor suite to the Prius
  3. A custom built 2-seater Neightborhood Electric Vehicle made by Rausch known as the Firefly. Initially using a Velodyne, these switched to Google-made LIDARs. This vehicle had no driver controls.
  4. A custom modified Pacifica minivan, as described above.
  5. A custom modified Jaguar I-Pace, not yet in production use.

History and Events

Key People

Alumni

Key Facts

  • Team Size: ? (as of ?)
  • Vehicles in Test: 800 in 2019. 80,000 vehicles on order with Chrysler and Jaguar
  • Budget/Funding: $? (as of ?)

Areas of Operation

  • Commercial operation around Chandler, Arizona.
  • Heavy testing operation in Mountain View, CA.
  • Test track in central California at Castle.