At 14:15, let's all send a big thank you to Eugene and his 44 kids at Waymo, who seemingly cheered this Waymo to driving the wrong way through the partially open gate. Eugene, please keep the party going, so similar puzzles can be cheered to happy endings. Thanks for this video!
Yeah they're put in a pretty difficult situation. All they can really do is reassure, repeat what the car is doing, and call 911 in an emergency. It would be far more useful if they had just a little more power. I know someone who's car got stuck on the way to them, and the support agent didn't even have the power to reassign the ride to a different car. Kind of crazy.
Great video and beautifully narrated. There must be really bad tyre wear on the front. Everyone knows that you shouldn't turn the steering wheel unless the car is moving. Even when parking.
Thank you for watching and for your kind words! :) That's an interesting point, I'd love to see the data on tyre wear compared to a normal vehicle. With the dry steering that happens occasionally coupled with the additional wear that comes from it being an EV, I'm willing to bet you're right.
The support agent themselves can't really do anything, it's a separate team that handles that. The car didn't indicate remote assistance at that point either, so I'm inclined to believe it figured it out on its own!
That's a great question! When you do what's called a "multi stop" trip (as in this video), where you add a list of destinations, you have a choice. You can either tell it to continue in the app once it's pulled over (as I did here), or you can get out, it'll then drive away, and then you can tell it to come back when you're ready to continue. If it's just a regular point to point though, you are required to get out and open and close the door, since you're not allowed to stay in the car at that point. I hope that answers your question, and thank you for watching! :)
Good question! I've seen videos of people trying to touch the controls, and they don't really do anything. The wheel has a pretty powerful motor that would make it difficult to move. If you try though, you're sure to get banned pretty much immediately (and potentially cause an accident). Roadside support or emergency services can get in the car and drive it though, if authorised by Waymo support.
@@AutonomyCentral There would have been room if it would have waited. It now broke the law and did very iffy pass from the blue car that would have done pass as well. It just went ahead illegally. That's one problem as it just assumes projectory of objects and not that the blue car front also is going to make a line change. There was potential for crash to happen, granted good conditions and rather low speeds so not super dangerous, but it's more about the decision making than what could have happened. I would not say it was great job, but very iffy pass.
@@ShadowManceriEhhh we can agree to disagree on this one :) I don't know anyone who would wait for a car to parallel park instead of going around to give space, but if you would feel safer doing that then you do you!
@@AutonomyCentral It was the white car doing the parking. Blue car was ahead and had the same obstacle, likely going to pass the white car as well. It also had legal opportunity to do it, while Waymo did not. Waymo then decided to pass the blue car illegally rather than wait blue car to pass and then follow. That is what I would have expected to happen, not to wait for white car to make the parking. I think Waymo should drive legally and follow the rules and drive safely. If you disagree with any part of that, then I don't just disagree with you, but I'm worried. I don't even understand how this is an argument in the first place. It should be obvious that Waymo did wrong decision here. You could make the same excuse that it's ok to speed if you are late or whatever. No, it's not. And the outcome is also same. It doesn't save any time. Unnecessary risk and violation of the law for no reason or benefit. Just mind blowing that anyone would defend that at all. Especially in context of autonomous driving. The rules should be more strict, not less.
There's a big investment in these cars. Are they cheaper than a taxi or Uber, about the same, or more expensive? If not cheaper, I wonder why trusting automation is better choice than a human who should know the area and make better decisions when things are unusual.
As with Uber they tend to vary wildly, if Waymo is super busy (e.g. Friday night) it will be an absolute rip off as they won't have the capacity to serve everyone. Usually on a normal day it's like $2-3 more expensive, but what people don't consider is that you don't have to tip Waymo (often making it cheaper in the end), and you're getting an Uber Black level car. You can download the Waymo One app for yourself and run a few comparisons if you want to know for your routes specifically. As for why people prefer a Waymo, I can say personally it's because I have the car to myself. I can take phone calls, watch videos out loud, play my own music, adjust temperature etc and I don't have to worry about talking with the driver or whatever to avoid getting 1 starred. I've also had a tonne of sketchy Ubers, driving dangerously or half broken cars, with Waymo I know what the driving will be like and it's usually spot on. Having said that, the routes do tend to take longer over larger distances, since they don't yet go on the freeway. Thank you for your insights and for watching!
@@AutonomyCentral Thank you for the reply. I can see the advantages, with privacy, and the driving standard, but with added entertainment in sticky situations. I'm in the UK, so we don't have those here, yet, and that would be a bigger challenge, with our less ordered streets, often narrow with only one lane available for both directions to share. I wonder how long to recoup the investment.
At 14:15, let's all send a big thank you to Eugene and his 44 kids at Waymo, who seemingly cheered this Waymo to driving the wrong way through the partially open gate. Eugene, please keep the party going, so similar puzzles can be cheered to happy endings. Thanks for this video!
Thanks for watching!
"Have a great trip ahead, bye"
"-You too, thank you, bye" 😂 14:59 (Oh you caught it as well soon after)
😂 I realised what I'd done the second I said it haha
01:02 I think it came to its complete stop behind the line like normal; pedestrian yielding being a bonus
05:12 Wow!!!
You don´t want to overtake on a pedestrian crossing. That was needlessly dangerous imo.
It didn't sound as if the Waymo assistant was the inventor of the soup plate either.
Yeah they're put in a pretty difficult situation. All they can really do is reassure, repeat what the car is doing, and call 911 in an emergency. It would be far more useful if they had just a little more power. I know someone who's car got stuck on the way to them, and the support agent didn't even have the power to reassign the ride to a different car. Kind of crazy.
Ngl the confetti made me jump loooooool
Making sure you're awake!
Ngl? What is that?
@@Peter_Riis_DK "Not going to lie," as in, "I'll admit"
There are many instances where one direction of the road is legally blocked to through traffic. So going around a blockage might not be legal.
Very true, it's an interesting problem to solve - when the car should go around and when should it turn around.
It won't survive a day in NYC. Never mind the traffic. Drivers constantly double park and block lanes. Trucks too
@@Demopans5990 They're currently testing in NYC!
@@AutonomyCentral
Well, the city did mandate safety drivers. Don't see the cars driving themselves here anytime soon
@@Demopans5990 Yep, it's a real shame :(
The Waymo driver should just make eye contact with the other driver and wave them in.
That's the thing, there isn't one 😂
Great video and beautifully narrated.
There must be really bad tyre wear on the front.
Everyone knows that you shouldn't turn the steering wheel unless the car is moving. Even when parking.
Thank you for watching and for your kind words! :)
That's an interesting point, I'd love to see the data on tyre wear compared to a normal vehicle. With the dry steering that happens occasionally coupled with the additional wear that comes from it being an EV, I'm willing to bet you're right.
I was thinking the same.
It does a lot of yanking on the wheel while standing still.
I wonder if the support agent actually did something to force it through the gate, or did the car figure it out on its own?
The support agent themselves can't really do anything, it's a separate team that handles that. The car didn't indicate remote assistance at that point either, so I'm inclined to believe it figured it out on its own!
5:09 nice to see the computer using all the Torque :) 6:54 they indicated left and went right so..
One of the best accelerations I've seen in a Waymo!
When a drop off has been requested, and the car has stopped, do you need to open and close a door to let the computer know that a human has exited?
That's a great question! When you do what's called a "multi stop" trip (as in this video), where you add a list of destinations, you have a choice. You can either tell it to continue in the app once it's pulled over (as I did here), or you can get out, it'll then drive away, and then you can tell it to come back when you're ready to continue. If it's just a regular point to point though, you are required to get out and open and close the door, since you're not allowed to stay in the car at that point.
I hope that answers your question, and thank you for watching! :)
There's a steering wheel, are there controls? What if people sit down behind the wheel and start trying to "drive" it?
Good question! I've seen videos of people trying to touch the controls, and they don't really do anything. The wheel has a pretty powerful motor that would make it difficult to move. If you try though, you're sure to get banned pretty much immediately (and potentially cause an accident). Roadside support or emergency services can get in the car and drive it though, if authorised by Waymo support.
5:36 saying great job, but that was a ticket. Illegal line change.
I mean, I doubt anyone would ticket you for that. The path ahead was blocked and there was no room to change lanes only over the dashed line.
@@AutonomyCentral There would have been room if it would have waited. It now broke the law and did very iffy pass from the blue car that would have done pass as well. It just went ahead illegally. That's one problem as it just assumes projectory of objects and not that the blue car front also is going to make a line change. There was potential for crash to happen, granted good conditions and rather low speeds so not super dangerous, but it's more about the decision making than what could have happened. I would not say it was great job, but very iffy pass.
@@ShadowManceriEhhh we can agree to disagree on this one :) I don't know anyone who would wait for a car to parallel park instead of going around to give space, but if you would feel safer doing that then you do you!
@@AutonomyCentral It was the white car doing the parking. Blue car was ahead and had the same obstacle, likely going to pass the white car as well. It also had legal opportunity to do it, while Waymo did not. Waymo then decided to pass the blue car illegally rather than wait blue car to pass and then follow. That is what I would have expected to happen, not to wait for white car to make the parking. I think Waymo should drive legally and follow the rules and drive safely. If you disagree with any part of that, then I don't just disagree with you, but I'm worried. I don't even understand how this is an argument in the first place. It should be obvious that Waymo did wrong decision here. You could make the same excuse that it's ok to speed if you are late or whatever. No, it's not. And the outcome is also same. It doesn't save any time. Unnecessary risk and violation of the law for no reason or benefit. Just mind blowing that anyone would defend that at all. Especially in context of autonomous driving. The rules should be more strict, not less.
After 10 years of delivery driving I promise no cop would write a ticket for that.
There's a big investment in these cars. Are they cheaper than a taxi or Uber, about the same, or more expensive? If not cheaper, I wonder why trusting automation is better choice than a human who should know the area and make better decisions when things are unusual.
As with Uber they tend to vary wildly, if Waymo is super busy (e.g. Friday night) it will be an absolute rip off as they won't have the capacity to serve everyone. Usually on a normal day it's like $2-3 more expensive, but what people don't consider is that you don't have to tip Waymo (often making it cheaper in the end), and you're getting an Uber Black level car. You can download the Waymo One app for yourself and run a few comparisons if you want to know for your routes specifically.
As for why people prefer a Waymo, I can say personally it's because I have the car to myself. I can take phone calls, watch videos out loud, play my own music, adjust temperature etc and I don't have to worry about talking with the driver or whatever to avoid getting 1 starred. I've also had a tonne of sketchy Ubers, driving dangerously or half broken cars, with Waymo I know what the driving will be like and it's usually spot on. Having said that, the routes do tend to take longer over larger distances, since they don't yet go on the freeway.
Thank you for your insights and for watching!
@@AutonomyCentral Thank you for the reply. I can see the advantages, with privacy, and the driving standard, but with added entertainment in sticky situations. I'm in the UK, so we don't have those here, yet, and that would be a bigger challenge, with our less ordered streets, often narrow with only one lane available for both directions to share. I wonder how long to recoup the investment.
@@nigelcox1451 Definitely would love to see how they perform back home in the UK! Although I hear Wayve is currently testing stuff out.
Low grade for mistake
Agreed! My average rides usually go very smoothly, but I do try to put it in difficult situations for the video.
End this madness. Those cars are a menace on the road
How so?
Still a better driver than every Nissan and Dodge ram driver on the road.
Honestly...I've seen worse. They seem better than half the reckless dipshits driving 3 ton vehicles with their brights always on where I am.
B
Is this your grading for the ride? 🤔