Waymo Introduces its 6th-Generation Waymo Driver Hardware

Alphabet-owned Waymo’s has introduce its 6th-generation autonomous vehicle (AV) hardware, offering a reduced cost while delivering even more resolution, range, compute power, and enabling more capabilities. The sixth generation of the Waymo Driver builds on the current 5th-generation system, which has helped ther AV technology developer scale its ride-hailing service to a number of US cities.

With 13 cameras, 4 lidar, 6 radar, and an array of external audio receivers (EARs), the new sensor suite is optimised for greater performance, without compromising safety.

It provides the Waymo Driver with overlapping fields of view, all around the vehicle, up to 500 meters away, day and night, and in a range of weather conditions.

The new sensor suite already has thousands of miles of real-world driving experience and millions more in simulation.

The Waymo Driver learns from the collective experiences gathered across our fleet, including previous hardware generations. 

Satish Jeyachandran, Waymo's Vice President of Engineering, says: "Through advancements in sensor technology and strategic placement, we've been able to reduce the number of sensors while maintaining our safety-critical redundancies. This approach prioritizes safety while also allowing for optimizations of our autonomous driving system. Complementing this efficiency, we can swap out various sensing components to match the specific conditions of each operating environment, like adjusting sensor cleaning for vehicles in colder climates."

Waymo's autonomous ride-hailing service operates in Metro Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and it's ramping up in Austin, Texas.