> owing to its height and the distance it can receive from,
And, importantly, the fender-mount LIDARs. It doesn't just have the one on the roof, it has one on each corner too.
I first took a Waymo as a curiosity on a recent SF trip, just a few blocks from my hotel east on Lombard to Hyde and over to the Buena Vista to try it out, and I was immediately impressed when we pulled up the hill to Larkin and it saw a pedestrian that was out of view behind a building from my perspective. Those real-time displays went a long way to allowing me to quickly trust that the vehicle's systems were aware of what's going on around it and the relevant traffic signals. Plenty of sensors plus a detailed map of a specific environment work well.
Compare that to my Ioniq5 which combines one camera with a radar and a few ultrasonic sensors and thinks a semi truck is a series of cars constantly merging in to each other. I trust it to hold a lane on the highway and not much else, which is basically what they sell it as being able to do. I haven't seen anything that would make me trust a Tesla any further than my own car and yet they sell it as if it is on the verge of being able to drive you anywhere you want on its own.
And, importantly, the fender-mount LIDARs. It doesn't just have the one on the roof, it has one on each corner too.
I first took a Waymo as a curiosity on a recent SF trip, just a few blocks from my hotel east on Lombard to Hyde and over to the Buena Vista to try it out, and I was immediately impressed when we pulled up the hill to Larkin and it saw a pedestrian that was out of view behind a building from my perspective. Those real-time displays went a long way to allowing me to quickly trust that the vehicle's systems were aware of what's going on around it and the relevant traffic signals. Plenty of sensors plus a detailed map of a specific environment work well.
Compare that to my Ioniq5 which combines one camera with a radar and a few ultrasonic sensors and thinks a semi truck is a series of cars constantly merging in to each other. I trust it to hold a lane on the highway and not much else, which is basically what they sell it as being able to do. I haven't seen anything that would make me trust a Tesla any further than my own car and yet they sell it as if it is on the verge of being able to drive you anywhere you want on its own.