Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 18
BATTLE
FOR
SUPREMACY
General Motors and Waymo have emerged
as the leaders in developing and deploying
self-driving vehicles. They represent a
battle between traditional automakers and
technology disrupters. BY MICHAEL WAYLAND
Waymo is using its software, computing and data resources to
create what it calls "the world's most experienced driver."
T
he best example of a dinosaursvs.-disrupters battle may be the
race to deploy self-driving vehicles between General Motors and
Google spinoff Waymo.
Both have emerged as leaders. Both are
playing to their strengths. Both are spending
billions to expand development and testing
to fend off traditional competitors such as
Ford Motor Co. and many auto suppliers that
other automakers are counting on for off-theshelf autonomous vehicle systems.
"I would definitely put GM and Waymo at
the top of the heap in readiness of technology but also figuring out the business side of
it," said Sam Abuelsamid, a senior analyst at
Navigant Research.
The companies are taking different routes,
and it won't be clear for some time which, if
either, will emerge as king of the hill. It may
come down to which has the better virtual
reality setup. Or which can turn the technology into a consumer product the quickest.
"The technology is just one piece of the
puzzle," Abuelsamid said. "Ultimately, you
have to figure out how you're going to make
a business out of that technology."
18
shift * may 2018
HERE'S HOW THEIR STRATEGIES
BREAK DOWN:
WAYMONAUTS
Google's self-driving car project, now known
as Waymo, is using its software, computing
and data resources to create what it calls
"the world's most experienced driver." The
Mountain View, Calif., company is relying on
traditional automakers to assemble vehicles,
and focusing its expertise on building the
self-driving car platform.
It has been working on self-driving vehicles for a decade and plans to release its first
public autonomous ride-hailing fleet this year
in Arizona.
Waymo is by far the leader in distance
driven, with more than 5 million miles in
self-driving mode in 25 metropolitan areas
using a handful of vehicle designs retrofitted
with its technologies. In simulated driving,
Waymo reports it has driven more than 5 billion miles.
Waymo, according to CEO John Krafcik, is
at a point where it is learning more from its
virtual world - nicknamed Carcraft after the
popular "Warcraft" computer game - than
during road testing.
"It doesn't mean we can stop real-world
testing," Krafcik told a small roundtable of
reporters in late March. "We keep discovering
new, interesting pieces in the real world that
informs the virtual world we're building."
Waymo, he said, takes the most challenging real-world situations for its autonomous
vehicles and safely increases the complexity
in simulation. The process - called fuzzing
- may include narrowing distances from
another vehicle or adding pedestrians or
bicyclists to a situation.
The company also is combining its road
testing with the virtual world in Waymo's
Castle, a 91-acre proving ground for autonomous vehicle r&d.
CRUISE CONTROL
GM is keeping its autonomous vehicle operations in-house, following the high-profile
acquisitions of self-driving technology developer Cruise Automation and lidar developer
Strobe Inc., both of California. It has more
than a century of design and manufacturing
see BATTLE, p. 20
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018
Contents
From the Editor
Q&A
Movable Type
Trend Spotting
Think Like a Disrupter
New Motor City?
Negative Space
Battlegrounds
Old Problems
Last Mile
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Intro
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Contents
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - From the Editor
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Q&A
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Movable Type
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Trend Spotting
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 7
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 8
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 9
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Think Like a Disrupter
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 11
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - New Motor City?
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 13
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Negative Space
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 15
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 16
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 17
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Battlegrounds
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 19
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 20
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - 21
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Old Problems
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Last Mile
Shift Magazine - Issue 1 2018 - Cover4
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