launcht As a part of its winter experimenting, Alphabet’s Self Driving Car Unit- Waymo is working on resolving a crucial blind spot for autonomous vehicles: snowy and icy conditions. Waymo on Thursday revealed that Michigan would be the sixth American State, where the unit will test its autonomous vehicles. The company stressed on the fact that, it chose the state to see how vehicles will respond in snow, sleet, and ice.
Waymo continues to be testing its vehicles in Texas, Arizona, Washington State, Nevada, and California and will now add Michigan to that list of states. Michigan will witness the autonomous cars being tested on public roads with a backup safety driver sitting in the driver seat if necessary. Waymo has also been mapping areas in Metro Detroit and wants to assess how its sensors perform in wet, cold conditions. One cause of concern here is that, the self-driving car mapping software may have challenges during the harsh winter weather.
Our ultimate goal is for our fully self-driving cars to operate safely and smoothly in all kinds of environments.
– Waymo Chief Executive John Krafcik
