Behind the Scenes at Waymo Driverless Taxi Depot
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- This video shows Waymo's depot operations, which is a combination of autonomous driving/parking plus manual charging/cleaning. Some locations are only used for parking the driverless Waymo vehicle and minimal staff. Other locations, such as Toland Street, are "full service" with DC fast charging and many employees. All three locations visited are surface parking lots, rather than the enclosed garages preferred by GM Cruise.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction: Why do depots matter?
0:33 14th Street Depot
2:29 Hailing out of the depot
3:56 Waymo Roadside Assistance
4:40 Harrison Street Depot
5:49 Toland Street Depot
8:57 Auto parking
14:36 Bonus clips
15:10 Conclusion
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Not affiliated with Waymo. The views expressed in this video are the personal views of each speaker. They do not necessarily represent the views of their employer. Rides are taken in a personal capacity. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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I never thought I'd be so interested in a parking depot. Lol
The "time out" spot is where cars that need to be deep cleaned are sent, for example if someone spills something or damages the interior.
How do they know that a passenger has spilled something or damaged something inside the vehicle? Camera detects it and alerts Waymo team or what?
@@NassimSYD i believe they are inspected via camera feed after each ride by a real human... or it could be ai
No solar panels on that giant roof ??? Wasted opportunity
@@rosspatterson44 Or wind turbines.
Incorrect. That's where cars go if they've been naughty. To think about what they did.
15 minutes flew by, amazing coverage and insights!!
Eating breakfast on a Sunday morning, watching a video about depots... Doesn't get better than this.
typically youtube recommends me tiny channels that have boring or low quality videos, but this is clearly an exception. nice work!!
What TH-cam have you been on?
@@aaabbb-py5xdhe’s not wrong, TH-cam does recommend shitty videos .
I'm ready for the heist movie that features these. 6 man job. Everyone has two cell phones. That's 12 getaway cars... We can do this.
Honestly what a fantastic video.
I’m in Australia, & the thing of a driverless taxi is crazy.
For a small channel I think you’ll expand good.
Your quality is very good.
i guess waymo is keeping the ipace line alive.
Probably mean paying a premium for that.
I heard a rumor they own a majority of all ipaces 😂
They should have a Waymo always parked at the exit of the depot, so that it can get to customers faster rather than having to slowly navigate the entire parking lot. A standby car for the depot
Hear me out on this; we take the Waymo cars and replace their tires with metal wheels, then we create a track system that runs throughout an area, this can be a street level system very similar to a trolley. We remove the car engine and replace it with an electric powertrain that connects to an overhead wire that the waymo car can attach to via a telescopic boom. We create stops along the way similar to stations for a trolley. We also increase the capacity of the cars by extending them and adding more seating.
Since they're all on it should work like a taxi depot, cars are parked in line and when the first one leaves the other ones move 1 spot so there's always a car near the exit.
@@25566 Oh yeah, that's smart, why are they parking the cars inefficiently like personal vehicles anyway
@@popcorn8153trains are shit.
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I used to drop off packages near the main location and I remember before when amazon had a warehouse and when waymo started buying that area. crazy how fast it changed and it’s a depot there now
never had issue with waymo in arizona. like it
Too bad that 99.99% of America does not have Waymo service.
@@DerekDavis213 agreed but when it does it's going to be awesome.
@@petecoventry6858 Awesome? Why?
Today, you can call for an Uber or Lyft and they will pick you up in minutes. Robo-taxis are not needed, and nobody is asking for them.
@@petecoventry6858lol, Waymo will go bankrupt before that.
The approach of Waymo is not Scalable. Tesla robo taxi will be cover the US within the next 12-24 Months though. @@petecoventry6858
Very cool, thanks for doing this!
Great video Kevin. I agree with your guesses at about 13:00 on data swapping going on during the trunk visits by the Waymo staff. I'd say the main reason for the disk swapping vs. wireless data transmission is speed (and maybe cost). Historically wired data transfers occurred at least an order of magnitude faster by wire than wireless. That ratio may have gone down somewhat recently with new WI-Fi and cell standards, but we don't know what they are doing with this data. If they just retain it briefly, then they might not even transfer it off the swapped drives Instead, they might just schedule the drives to be reused once the data was retained long enough to be sure there wasn't a big problem, like an accident that was reported somewhat later.
BTW, two possibilities for the wired connection are USB or Ethernet. I believe most (if not all) of the 40 sensors (28 cameras, 6 radars, and 6 lidars) are networked to the Waymo computer in the trunk via one or more Ethernet switches, also located in the trunk. I believe the data drives you are talking about are external to the rest of the Waymo computer and either are connected via Ethernet (like a NAS unit) or as an external drive using USB or eSATA. Maybe some former Waymo or Cruise employees can comment on this, since those working with this onboard storage (probably mostly to archive the sensor data) would know best which drive types (although I'd guess big SSDs) and which wired communications (Ethernet, USB, or SATA?) are getting used in the latest self-driving systems like Waymo's.
I understand that Waymo vehicles have a mobile storage device similar to that of Synology
@@PangDaDriver Yeah, that sounds right. I'd just guess they are using SSDs inside that NAS unit for the speed and reliability (especially regarding vibration) over spinning disks as used in the old Synology NAS units and even over the hybrid drives. Yeah, I guess that means all the Waymo computer peripherals (beside the car's system like steering, throttle, brakes, and the Waymo displays which must be wired by DisplayPort or HDMI) are connected by Ethernet, maybe all on one switch in the trunk.
this is awesome !
thanks for showing this
wow kevin! loved the way you walk through the video and the audio , video , content quality is top notch !! loved the aerial view ... Hope to see you big !! cant believe 15 mins went by soo fast!
Been looking for a video like this!!
Really cool. Great narration as well.
That is interesting and informative! I have many questions about Waymo and this is a good start to understanding the technology 👍🏾
Awesome video of behind the scenes
Terrific job, Kevin
Thanks, was curious about this.
The coolest thing about these cars is you don't have to worry about tipping
Great comment!
Great coverage. I'm looking forward to when they get to my city.
It's only when you see the Waymo depot in operation that it really highlights how far ahead Waymo are in providing a RoboTaxi service than Tesla with their FSD. Even if Tesla's FSD was capable there is so much more to providing a taxi service other than the automated driving.
Waymo have made so many advances such as improving their interaction with emergency responders, allowing the emergency services to geofence an area from Waymo vehicles and having Waymo remote operators take over or give advice, and to train the emergency responders on how to interact or take control of a Waymo vehicle.
There is a big difference going from an always supervised vehicle to one that has no driver. If a Tesla FSD disengages, the driver takes over, for a Tesla RoboTaxi after a disengagement there would be no one to take control, and that part of the service needs to be addressed before they can be let loose on the road.
Waymo and Tesla FSD are often compared to one another when really there is no comparison. There is very little that Tesla FSD can do that Waymo can't, while there would seem to be a stack of things that Waymo can do, that Tesla FSD can't.
Tesla's robotaxi is to be unveiled in August. It's going to be the first car without operator controls such as a steering wheel. In the meantime, we're still waiting for robots to drive, clean, and work like slaves while speaking perfect English.
I love the idea of the naughty corner 😂
Good work Kevin
Great video, Kevin. Greetings from Canada. I took one of these while on vaca in SF recently. It was very cool ride. I wondered where the depots were. Now I know. James.
I live down the stree from this depot, it's really cool to watch sometimes.
Very interesting.
My first thought was that they should have induction charging so that a human didn't have to plug them in. But since a human needs to check the car to make sure it's clean and ready, he might as well plug it in as well. It takes a second human visit to unplug it to put it back in service.
For smaller charging station with no human, inductive charging will still be needed. Then we can increase the number of robotaxi charging stations and spread them out.
@@boyangsong3091 theres no way induction charging will come even close to price competition with gas, allready hybrids in California are winning the price war. Induction losses would mean you would be better off driving a 16mpg dump truck
They could have internal cameras to detect spills, dirt and lost items. Surely they aim to be completely autonomous at some point.
Induction charging isn't as efficient as wired charging. If they want to reduce the human aspect, they could build robot charging stations. About a month ago, I saw a video of a robot gas station.
They could also use some kind of pantograph charging system like those electric busses have. Induction is very inefficient.
Nice!
Great stuff! So silly that the autonomus vehicle service hasnt figured out how to automate the security gates lol
I don't think it's a matter of not having figured it out. Automated security gates have existed for a long time already. I think having them be manned is more so a security/safety measure.
These are so cool
waymo has a loooooong way to go. just took my first ride in one in Phoenix... ride was ok but it took 1 min to take off at a green light and we got honked at by everyone
Brilliant
Great video. Engrossing. I can't wait for Waymo to be available in West LA. Waymo is multiple times safer than driven vehicles including Lyft & Uber.
it is amazing
We have those in Las Vegas how to call them for a ride
3:15 There is a huge statue of a woman lying on her side on top of the building just on the left side.
I noticed it from the freeway, and it seems that the amusing statue is on the top of a building inside the Waymo parking lot.
I would be curious to know more about this strange statue story.
Burning Man art installation, I guess they found a good place for the public to enjoy it. It's amazing metal work, especially up close and illuminated at night.
Feels like I'm doing research for a GTA mission
I’m really not sure what we are gaining here. Except for some low level humor 🤪
I don't think you could hide in the back seats, the rider support camera can probably see what you're doing so it wouldn't be effective
yeah they know when you're in there as the cars are equipped with 2-way Audio/Video, so they can talk to you and you can talk to them. source: i just talked to them from the back seat on 4/18 out in Phoenix.
@@phillyphil1513 in some of these videos I can see a couple of infrared LEDs blink towards the front and I assume it's lighting up the person in the car when they drop in to see what's going on, but no rider support call or anything, so it doesn't have to be two way unless they also record audio as well
@@trektn re: "so it doesn't have to be two way..." repeat: it's 2-way cause i just talked to them from the backseat of a Waymo out in Phoenix on South 52nd Street, date: 4/18.
@@phillyphil1513 repeat: I've seen the camera ir leds blink in some of the videos so it's possible they're tabbing in without you needing to talk to them
Waymo Gone Wild
凄い時代ですね😮
Gotta love all the grafitti
Weird seeing Waymo do it's thing on its own around in the parking lot. We need Waymo here in the Orange county, Ca area
Thanks 👍🏿😁👍🏻🇨🇦🇺🇸🇵🇭
Feels like watching ant colonies
gread video, thank you!
sick HTK throw up
I'm willing to bet that the reason the cars use hazard lights and drive agonizingly slow is due to insurance guidelines. I notice similar activity at our local amazon depot.
Wait do u get your money back after you cancel your trip?
Do you know if those chargers are Superchargers or standard 6 kW to 12 kW chargers?
Judging by the look of them (size) they definitely look like fast chargers, and slow charging doesn't make any sense. These i-paces are not great at DC fast charging can only take about 90kW peak afaik.
Based on the size, these are definitely DC chargers. "Superchargers" are Tesla's DC chargers, and so therefore these are not Superchargers
Every other word from the vlogger is "painfully" why? SMH
interesting I wonder how these cars are cleaned
0:54 why turn right first. There was a lot of space to just turn left
Isn’t that the normal speed for a parking lot? In Germany at least, it needs to be at “walking speed” so about 4-7 km/h
5 mph around cars, walking speed. Unfortunately some people have low IQs and speed.
Yes though it is rare anyone here drives at that speed, about double is what is more common in a flat parking lot.
Sure, no one follows it though
Just realized they use Jaguar EVs.. seems like a kinda strange choice hahaha
Stack push stack pop 😅
Is that Arial footage yours? if shot on your drone, you have to be part 107 certified.
So they just sit there idling? That’s pretty bad why not have an idle mode and internal battery?
They’re electric are they not? Idling doesn’t use electricity
Actual autonomy.
Is spray paint free in the US or something? What a mess…
This is how i feel when i watch the beamng ai cars trying to do things
I find it interesting that Google went with Jaguar and not the Autonomous leader in Cars like Honda.
Cars are so slow in the depot area due to so many people working around. It was programmed that way.
We all know there are Computer Glitches. You don't want to be in one of these cars when it happens. And it will happen, over , an over again
but what happens to the drivers of taxis now they no longer needed?
They get different jobs
This is the BlackBerry product before iPhone came online.
Interesting there is no EV Charging (Opportunity Charging) at the first parking lot. Their intention is to only have them wait there briefly and they wait until later to charge 🔋
😁👍🏻(Waymo)
😁👍🏻(⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
Who knows, maybe there are humans in those depots who are driving the cars remotely. Or those humans are from some third-party countries like the Philippines, India, etc.
We need Waymo Indian guys(AI) with simulators
Of course the autonomous driving industry should get better. It's erratic at best and a danger to other vehicles. There is no substitute for competent and attentive drivers.
I think I saw a total of 5 to 10 people at the site. While the tech is impressive, I am afraid this is going to be another case where big tech firms dominate more of our life.
米国などは土地が広いのでスペースが取れますね、回転式の立体駐車場とかにすると数１００台オーダーで格納できると思う
You do understand that GOOGLE doesnt give a fig about people needing rides or the taxi business right? The purpose of all these WAYMO cars is that they are all test mules. Each is testing the software & the sensors and each is involved with perfecting the self driving tech. Teslas FSD they are so proud of is rated by the NTSB as a 2 out of 5 while the WAYMO system is the most advanced of them all at a 4.5 blowing TESLAS FSD out of the water. Once they perfect this tech, GOOGLE will be offering their tech for sale to car companies & simi truck companies whoever has the $$$$. They intend to corner the self driving tech market. And they are very close.
!
This is an insider, astute comment.
This it the most boring and interesting video ever.
이 서비스가 몇년째 잘 돌아다녀, 영상이 다 있어. 유튜브다 있어. 모든 방송사 기자들이 다 타보고 방송에 내보냈어. 이렇게 오래 증명해도 안돼? 도대체 이게 말이되냐? 도대체 이걸 왜 막고있는거야? 이해가 안돼. 정치인들은 왜 기술 발전을 막고있지? 무슨 의도로?
Transdev the contract company for the driver's is full of BS. They laid off 75 percent of the workers. Got sued for bullying which you can read publicly online. To make matters worse someone died in the bathroom.
Just because the WAYMO cars dont drive like you does not mean it is wrong, it just
drives differently. Maybe your driving style is wrong. Maybe you should strive to
drive more like WAYMO.
!
I hate slow drivers, that's why I won't ever hail a driverless taxi - painfully slow and frustrating in that it doesn't drive efficiently!
저거 나중에 충전도 완전히 알아서 혼자서 다하고, 나중에 로봇이 또 청소하고 관리해주고 인간은 단 1명도 없어도 알아서 돌아가겠지? 그럼 가격은 더 싸질꺼야.
Or you could pay people and give someone a job!?!
Let's see these cars in a Midwest snow storm
You probably won’t. You dislike the technology?
I'm sure there will still be a place for human drivers. Much like there was a draw for a long time for people to keep going to grocery stores where they had someone still take your groceries out for you. That market share will obviously be much less than it is now but there will be a place and during things like major weather events they will probably thrive.
Because humans are so much better…
These cars can see through snow so likely will fare better
Slightly misleading title
Applauding for a job replacement for thousands of migrants isn’t a good idea. But now we know the infrastructure and where it’s located
excellent video as i just got back from spending 8 days out in Phoenix (4/13 - 4/20) testing Waymo's tech first hand and i declare it 98% efficient, yes it's that good. 😎 like i've been saying for some time, Elon and the Fanboys (sounds like the name of band right...? 😄) need to just SHUT THEIR CAKEHOLES once and for all regarding the "scam" of FSD, because the camera approach has a SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL of achieving the accuracy of the Waymo strategy of "Military Spec Sensor Fusion"...
yeah anyone forward deployed in the Army or Navy will recognize those sensor arrays rival what's fitted to an AH-64 Apache. i mean you can take one of those Jaguars and friggin' go HUNT FOR SUBMARINES (speaking hyperbolically) such is the $$ dollar value $$ of the electronics package "festooning" each of those cars.
There’s billions of intelligent camera based systems driving vehicles right now - called humans.
You are obviously not keeping up on Tesla’s progress. Go have an unbiased look at their latest version.
@@badhairday_247 re: "There’s billions of intelligent camera based systems driving vehicles right now - called humans." wrong answer kid, Humans are NOT camera based. you've been lied to by Elon and you have to face it (yes facing this will be unpleasant).
re: "You are obviously not keeping up on Tesla’s progress." and you are obviously not keeping up with Waymo progress despite looking DIRECTLY AT IT in the video...👀
with the latest "Supervised" FSD (V12.3.x) just released mid-April, you are still NOT sitting in the back seat (again "Supervised), whereas with Waymo V1 you are not only sitting in the back seat...? but they have "Multi-Robot" Depots in Silicon Valley (Elon's Home Turf) and are already in business in and Charging Fares...🤑
YOU'VE BEEN BEATEN...!!!🤭
Waymo cars are very expensive, Teslas just with the cameras, way less. We will see if they can come up with cheaper models.But now, they work very well with radars/lidars. But not profitable. On 8th of August we will see tesla robotaxi and how they compare with waymo.
@@investorsguidetothegalaxy re: "Teslas just with the cameras, way less." great but if it doesn't work to the level of the competition (and it doesn't) then what's the point...? oh and let us not forget that TIME is also "money" (sucks to be him) so what Elon has to do is account for the "expense" of spending the last 8 years MIS-DIRECTING valuable resources towards a dead-end product.
Waymo is rich to buy jaguar f type cars lol😂
Good video. But can't get over these goofy looking cars...
이미 인간보다 사고율이 낮으면, 해도 충분해.사고가 단 1건도 없어야한다는건 말이 안돼. 인간 운전자보다 낮으면 해도 돼. 몇년째 증명을 했으면 해야지. 도대체 왜 막는거야?
When a human is involved in a crash there is no excuse. They, and their insurance company, pays huge payouts to the victim. With autonomous vehicles, this all goes way. We can't have this in America. Lawyers and insurance companies rely upon the current systems.
If only the business model wasn’t doomed. Each ring fenced vehicle is north of $150,000 and therefore not scalable compared to Tesla’s intelligent autos.
Not if waymo proves safer. The extra cost will come down and the lifetime value of the vehicle will be much greater than even $150K. These cars can generate $1000 in revenue per day.
Waymo, lol.
The efficiency of the depot does not affect scalability. This approach will never scale. Waymo will be swept away by Teslas Robo taxi service which will be more than profitable, all the contrary to waymo.
사람들이 AI와 로봇에 밀려서 직업을 못 구하면, 자본주의 시장경제는 더이상 돌아갈수가 없어. 사람들이 돈 못벌면 소비를 못해. 쓸돈이 없는데 어떻게 자본주의 시장경제가 돌아가?그리고 인간은 뭔 짓을해도 AI와 로봇에 상대가 안돼. 이길수가 없어. 직업을 지킬수가 없어. 그러니까 더이상 자본주의 시장경제는 존립할수가 없다는것이 증명돼. 그거 막을려고 지금 이짓을 하고 있는거야. 얼마나 엉터리이고 말도 안되는짓인가?
대량생산하면 가격은 싸져. 너무나 당연하게도 대량생산하고, 서비스확대할수록 서비스 이용은 내려가. 택시나 우버 반값에도 가능해. 그래도 이익이 나. 그리고 24시간 잠도 안자고 돌아다니고, 쉬는날도 없어. 택시처럼 파업도 안해. 승차거부도 없어. 아무리 멀어도 부르면 와. 도대체 이걸 왜 서비스 안하냐고, 전세계 시작하면 기술은 더 빨리 발전할꺼고, 대량생산하면 가격은 더 싸져. 도대체 이걸 왜 막고있는거야? 전세계 택시 운전자와 운전 직업들이 전부다 직업을 잃을까봐? 그래서 아직도 고된 노동을 기계가 다 할수있는데 인간이 다 하는거야? 힘들게? 그게 옳을까?
This is not scalable or economically viable!
I will not be paying to be a guinea pig passenger on these beta robo taxis.
After Tesla's robotaxi app leaked the other week, it's looks like they're eventually aiming to compete with Waymo. They have 5 million cars in the US. Do you think a robotaxi fleet could work owned by individuals? Let say you work from home and you allow your Tesla to go off and make money for you. You are responsible for the extra cleaning, charging and returning lost items. What happens if your passenger is in trouble? Do they call you?
No way that is going to happen. People that own their own cars aren’t going to have it sent out overnight to take drunks home from the bar unattended. Cars would be trashed. Not to mention when you get up to go to work the battery would be dead.
There's no reason why the things you listed (cleaning, charging and returning lost items) couldn't be taken care of by the car working in conjunction with the app, the owner and Tesla robotaxi service personnel.
If the user reports a missing item before the car goes for its next pickup (or if the next passenger reports they found a missing item), have the car call in to the depot or stop to be met by staff when convenient.
If the car needs to be charged before or after a robotaxi journey, it can pull in to the Supercharger and other Tesla Supercharger users can get credits for plugging it in and unplugging it when prompted by the app.
If the car needs a clean, the user can either report that they caused the spillage, or the next user can report or refuse pickup through the app. Then the car either drives home or to the robotaxi support depot where it can be cleaned for a service charge.
These are just some low-overhead ideas. Tesla will likely have thought about this and have ways to integrate this all into the app so the costs are minimised. They won't go for the Waymo-style depot, which looks like a huge waste of money to me!
@@nettlesoup very good points. I can see the charging being automated with a robotic arm or induction. Cleaning is harder, but I think humanoid robots will be capable in the next few years. If they can charge less than $0.5 per/km it will be cheaper than owning a car. I can't wait to not own a car.
yup, Waymo totaly owns Tesla trash