John Krafcik said that Waymo’s autonomous test vehicles will surpass 3 million test miles on public roads by May. Photo: ReutersSouthfield/San Francisco: Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, has slashed the cost of a key technology required to bring self-driving cars to the masses and rolled it out on Sunday in an autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivan. Waymo has cut costs by 90% on LiDAR sensors, which bounce light off objects to create a three-dimensional map of a car’s surroundings. ALSO READ: Automakers, suppliers team up to share costs of self-driving cars“We’re at an inflection point where we can begin to realize the potential of this technology,” Krafcik said. Krafcik also said that Waymo’s autonomous test vehicles will surpass 3 million test miles on public roads by May.

Source: Mint January 09, 2017 13:44 UTC