Waymo’s robotaxis are basically mobile weather stations now
by Andrew J. Hawkins from The Verge - All Posts on (#65TA9)
Autonomous vehicles have difficulty navigating bad weather. Heavy rain, snow, and fog can do a lot to scramble an AV's perception systems, which largely rely on cameras, radar, and lidar to see" the world around it. Wet roads can create reflections that confuse cameras. Fog can screw up sensor data. And ice can form on the lidar, inhibiting the sensor's ability to send out laser points to gauge distance from other objects on the road.
Waymo, the Alphabet company that aims to deploy fleets of robotaxis all over the country, has been quietly investing in weather research since its early days as a moonshot" project out of Google's X division. And while its autonomous vehicles still struggled to navigate certain inclement conditions, the...