Google's self-driving cars become less polite to make trips faster

Waymo's cars have now driven 10 million miles
Waymo's cars have now driven 10 million miles Credit: AP

Waymo is to make its driverless cars less polite, as it admits they need to be more “assertive”.

The driverless car company, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, announced on Wednesday that its vehicles had driven 10 million miles on public roads, in 25 US cities.

Chief executive John Krafcik said the cars were “programmed to be cautious and courteous above all, because that’s the safest thing to do.

“We’re working on striking the balance between this and being assertive as we master manoeuvres that are tough for everyone on the road.”

The cars have attracted criticism in areas where they are appearing on public roads, particularly Phoenix, Arizona, where driverless tests are the most advanced.

Some locals have complained about cars behaving in an unnaturally cautious manner, such as stopping suddenly or holding up traffic behind them at junctions.

Mr Krafcik cites the example of cars merging into traffic as a situation where they might need to be more confident.

The manoeuvre “requires a driver to be both assertive enough to complete the maneuver without causing others to brake and smooth enough to feel pleasant to our passengers,” he said.  He said more assertive cars could mean faster trips for passengers.

"Today, our cars are designed to take the safest route, even if that means adding a few minutes to your trip. They won’t block your neighbor’s driveway and will choose the safest place to pull over, even if it means having to walk a few extra steps to a destination. We value our riders’ time, and with even more experience and feedback from people in our cars, we’re working on ways to make our routes, pick-ups, and drop-offs even more efficient." 

Most of the testing so far has been with a human in the driver’s seat, to intervene if the car does something potentially dangerous.

But the company has also begun testing without backup drivers. A fully driverless taxi service is already in operation for a limited number of users in Phoenix, and earlier this year Waymo also applied to begin testing without backup drivers in California.

A graphic of a junction showing how the car senses potential hazards
The cars use lasers to navigate junctions and detect hazards Credit: Waymo

In a video also released on Wednesday Waymo engineer Nathaniel Fairfield explained how the car's lasers and radar detect potential hazards. 

“A regular person has a lot of built-in assumptions about how the world works.

“The car is really thinking and is designed to consider all the worst-case stuff that we have ever seen and how that can play out.

“That makes it in many ways a very careful driver that is thinking through all the repercussions that you might not be doing," he said. 

The company cited numerous situations encountered during its testing which it said a self-driving car coped with more effectively than a human driver would, including a jogger unexpectedly running into the road, a barely-visible pedestrian crossing in a cloud of dust, and a car running a red light at a junction.

The Phoenix scheme is currently open to around 400 early adopters, and Waymo has said it would open to the public later this year.

Waymo began as Google’s self-driving car project, before becoming a standalone company in 2016.

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