Why Alphabet's Waymo Has Pulled Ahead in the Driverless Car Race

At this early point in the innovation cycle, practicality, quality and safety matter more than looks.

But the question is whether this technological advantage is sustainable given the caliber and determination of the competition. Ford's early lead did not stop General Motors and other rivals in cars - and neither has Apple's in smartphones. JL


Leslie Hook reports in the Financial Times:

Waymo, the driverless car unit of Alphabet, logged 30 times more miles of testing in autonomous vehicles than all of its competitors combined last year in California. Alphabet’s self-driving technology is far more comprehensive and mature than that of its rivals. Its cars were also the most accurate, with human intervention needed for safety reasons only 0.2 times per thousand miles.
Alphabet’s self-driving technology is far more comprehensive and mature than that of its rivals, according to new statistics released by regulators in California.
The data show that Waymo, the driverless car unit of Alphabet, logged 30 times more miles of testing in autonomous vehicles than all of its competitors combined last year in California. Its cars were also the most accurate, with human intervention needed for safety reasons only 0.2 times per thousand miles.
The data provide the most comprehensive snapshot yet of competing driverless car technologies, at a time when carmakers and technology companies are racing to be the first to perfect autonomous vehicles. It shows Waymo, BMW, Ford and Nissan as the most accurate systems.
California is unique in the US for requiring that companies testing autonomous vehicles report their miles driven and “disengagements” (when a human driver has to take over the wheel) each year.
In the absence of federal laws on self-driving cars, these disclosures are the only comprehensive information that allow for side-by-side comparisons between carmakers.
Mike Ramsey, car analyst at Gartner, said that the numbers highlight the “enormous difference in both miles driven and performance between the Google Waymo system, and everyone else”.

He added that California’s stringent reporting requirements might be starting to drive carmakers away, prompting them to test in other states so that they could avoid disclosing their testing statistics.  This year saw a handful of new companies start testing autonomous vehicles in California, including Tesla, which started testing in October and reported driving more than 500 miles.
But some companies that are licensed to test in California chose not to conduct tests in the state, including Volkswagen and Honda. California has been a popular place for testing in the past because so many driverless research labs are based in the Bay Area.
The data reveal a large variation in driverless accuracy between companies, which was in some cases because of testing on different kinds of roads or in different weather conditions. Bosch, the German manufacturer that sells car components including sensors for self-driving cars, reported the most frequent human safety interventions of any company.
Bosch said this was because its research centre in Palo Alto was focused on “advanced development” and “proof of concept”, and was often conducting tests on behalf of customers. “Our testing is likely for a different reason than theirs,” said Tim Wieland, spokesman for Bosch. Alphabet, as one of the earliest companies to begin testing self-driving cars, has so far succeeded in fending off competition even though it does not make its own cars. One of its most high-profile competitors in the self-driving arena has been Uber, which recently began investing heavily in driverless research.
Although Uber has tested self-driving vehicles in California, it never applied for a state permit to do so, prompting regulators to issue a cease-and-desist letter to the company in December.