Waymo LLC today debuted a new iteration of Driver, the artificial intelligence system that powers its autonomous taxis.

The Alphabet Inc. unit says vehicles equipped with the module will be capable of detecting obstacles from more than 1,600 feet away. Additionally, the new version of Driver has more computing capacity than its predecessor and can collect data about its surroundings with higher resolution. Waymo will use the system to power an autonomous taxi fleet based on electric vehicles from Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd.

Similarly to Mobileye Global Inc.’s competing Drive system, Driver uses several types of sensors to navigate. Waymo’s system includes cameras that track nearby vehicles by day and lidar devices capable of operating at night. Lidar technology maps out the environment using laser pulses that can collect data in low visibility conditions.

Rounding out Driver’s sensor suite is a microphone array and several radar modules. The latter sensors help offset lidar’s main weak point: It struggles to collect detailed environmental data over long distances and when there’s precipitation. Radar has no such limitations. 

Equipping an autonomous vehicle with multiple sensor arrays has an added benefit: It mitigates the risk of hardware failures. If a few of the modules malfunction, the others can continue collecting road data. 

To reduce the risk posed by hardware issues further, Waymo has hardened its Driver system’s sensor suite against winter weather. The Alphabet unit added “preventive measures” designed to ensure the sensors can collect data even when they encourage challenging conditions. One of the project’s priorities was to ensure Driver can operate reliably in freezing temperatures.

 “We build significant margins into our sensor capabilities to ensure reliable performance even in adverse conditions, in turn increasing each modality’s range,” Satish Jeyachandran, Waymo’s vice president of engineering, detailed in a blog post.

The Alphabet unit says that its engineers not only broadened Driver’s feature set as part of the upgrade but also lowered its cost. They achieved that partly by reducing the total number of sensors in the system. There are now 13 cameras instead of 29, while one of the five lidar sensors that shipped with the previous iteration of Driver has been removed as well.

Currently, much of Waymo’s autonomous taxi fleet is based on the Jaguar I-Pace series of electric SUVs. With the latest iteration of Driver, the company is refocusing its development efforts on electric vehicles from Geely Holding’s Zeekr subsidiary. CNBC reported that the vehicles’ interior could prove more accessible for some customers. 

Today’s technology refresh comes about a month after Waymo received a $5 billion investment from parent Alphabet. A part of the capital will reportedly go toward expanding the company’s autonomous taxi fleet with vehicles based on its latest-generation Driver system. 

Waymo is said to be testing its technology in Detroit, Buffalo and New York, cities where its ride-hailing service is not yet available. That hints the company may be planning to accelerate its market expansion plan using its newly raised $5 billion investment. Waymo’s ride-hailing service is currently available in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, where its vehicles have completed more than 2 million trips to date.

Photo: Waymo