Alphabet’s Waymo says its tech would avoid fatal human crashes

Waymo, the autonomous driving unit of Google's parent company Alphabet, is one of a number of well-funded companies racing to commercialise autonomous vehicle technology and pitching safety as a key benefit. — AFP

The autonomous-car artificial intelligence from Alphabet Inc’s Waymo avoided or mitigated crashes in most of a set of virtually recreated fatal accidents, according to a white paper the company published on March 8.

The simulations were based on 72 fatal crashes that occurred between 2008 and 2017 in Chandler, Arizona, where Waymo currently operates a small-scale autonomous ride-hail service based on its “Driver” sensors and software. That included 20 incidents involving a pedestrian or cyclist.