A report from Waymo's secret testing grounds
Google invited media reporters to ride
Behind the scenes at Waymo's top-secret testing site from CNBC.
Media's impressions after riding in Waymo self-driving van
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| Waymo's passenger screen photo The Verge |
From Venture Beats When riders first step into the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan, they’ll notice two displays and a button console with four choices: “help,” “lock and unlock,” “pull over,” and a blue button that says “start ride.”
The two screens, which are attached to the back of the headrests, display a welcome message.
Once the “start ride” button is pushed, the display message disappears and is replaced with a real-time view of the route. The displays showcase relevant information, like pedestrians, other vehicles, and objects in the road. It will also display less relevant objects like trees and buildings about every five seconds. Even here, Waymo has tinkered with what is the best mix of information for the rider, and just how to present it. For instance, greater emphasis is placed on the most relevant objects like pedestrians and bicyclists, while buildings are less visible.
At the top of the screen, an estimated arrival message constantly updates as the vehicle makes progress towards its destination.
Other messages show up towards the bottom of the display, typically to explain the behavior of the vehicle. For instance, if the self-driving minivan stops at an intersection because a pedestrian is about to cross, passengers would see a “yielding to pedestrians” message. They might also notice the crosswalk that the pedestrian is using is illuminated on the screen.
The screen also shows when the self-driving minivan has entered a construction zone. If there are multiple construction cones, those too will be displayed.
The company has also tried to anticipate the needs of apprehensive passengers, by mimicking the behavior of human drivers. For instance, as the self-driving minivan prepares to make a right turn, the camera angle displayed on the screen moves to the left to signal that the car is looking for objects like oncoming traffic.
The two screens, which are attached to the back of the headrests, display a welcome message.
Once the “start ride” button is pushed, the display message disappears and is replaced with a real-time view of the route. The displays showcase relevant information, like pedestrians, other vehicles, and objects in the road. It will also display less relevant objects like trees and buildings about every five seconds. Even here, Waymo has tinkered with what is the best mix of information for the rider, and just how to present it. For instance, greater emphasis is placed on the most relevant objects like pedestrians and bicyclists, while buildings are less visible.
At the top of the screen, an estimated arrival message constantly updates as the vehicle makes progress towards its destination.
Other messages show up towards the bottom of the display, typically to explain the behavior of the vehicle. For instance, if the self-driving minivan stops at an intersection because a pedestrian is about to cross, passengers would see a “yielding to pedestrians” message. They might also notice the crosswalk that the pedestrian is using is illuminated on the screen.
The screen also shows when the self-driving minivan has entered a construction zone. If there are multiple construction cones, those too will be displayed.
The company has also tried to anticipate the needs of apprehensive passengers, by mimicking the behavior of human drivers. For instance, as the self-driving minivan prepares to make a right turn, the camera angle displayed on the screen moves to the left to signal that the car is looking for objects like oncoming traffic.
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| Setting up obstacles Waymo test grounds photo The Verge |
From The Verge, It’s a smooth, yet totally unremarkable ride. Only there’s no one behind the wheel. There’s not even anyone in the passenger seat.
And I feel completely safe.
In the past two years, I’ve ridden in four self-driving cars. I’ve even been behind the wheel of one. In addition to being mundane rides, the one thing these cars have in common is they always had a safety driver at the wheel. After riding in the Waymo Pacifica, I’ve finally experienced what big car and tech companies are chasing: full autonomy.
Waymo provided a closer look at the interiors of its self-driving minivans, as well as the backseat user experience. In addition to the blue “start ride” button, there is another button that reads “pull over,” in case a rider need to unexpectedly suspend the trip. There is also a “help” button, a la GM’s OnStar, that someone could push in case the car breaks down. (During my ride, I was able to chat briefly with a Waymo technician based in Austin, Texas.)
Two screens on the back of each of the driver and passenger seat headrests show a top-down visual map of what the van’s sensors allow it to “see.” But rather than the raw “X view” version used by Waymo engineers, the version passengers see looks like a design studio product — it's simple, congruent, and the script is uniform. Other vehicles and cyclists are represented by blue rectangles. Emergency vehicles are distinguished by a red light that circulates around the rectangle. The symbol for pedestrians appears in a ghostly white hue. And orange traffic cones look like orange traffic cones, only tiny.
“It’s all about curation,” said Ryan Powell, head of Waymo’s UX design team. “Knowing what to show, how to show it.”
Other features, such as navigational directions and time-to-arrival, are meant to give passengers basic information they need about their journey. They also help assure riders that the car can see construction zones and all the other variables that make daily driving unpredictable. (Waymo says it has an app that test-subjects in Arizona use to hail its minivans, but the company wouldn’t let us see it.)
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