Author: Passionate about autonomous driving
Introduction
The Waymo Robotaxi, which has been in commercial operation in some cities for a long time, is not without its problems. Recently, a netizen posted a 40-minute video on YouTube showing the driverless car encountering several situations guided by cone-shaped barrels, which caused the vehicle to be unable to properly plan its route and stop in place waiting for rescue.
Indomitable Cone Barrels
Road obstacles are often guided by cone-shaped barrels, both in China and abroad. However, for autonomous vehicles, this little thing is like a nightmare.
Tesla Autopilot had stumbled before it. A daring netizen had enabled automatic driving on a highway, and the vehicle crashed into a cone-shaped barrel, eventually causing it to crash into a barrier at full speed.
The problem with previous versions of the Tesla system was that it failed to recognize or failed to recognize the cone-shaped barrel in a timely manner, resulting in a traffic accident. However, there seems to be another story with Waymo. The vehicle seems to be able to recognize the cone-shaped barrel, but cannot plan a feasible driving path and ultimately cannot pass the obstacle area.
In this half-hour video, there were at least three traffic-guided road conditions, and the vehicle stopped in place waiting for rescue many times.
The first time appears to be a three-way intersection, and the vehicle needs to make an unprotected right turn. However, Waymo’s powerful sensors have detected several cone-shaped barrels on the right side of the road, and dense straight-ahead traffic and a median lane line in the double lane road obstructed the next move of the driverless car. The car’s passenger interaction system signaled that the vehicle needed to be rescued, and it parked for nearly 10 minutes. The remote driving system took over the vehicle and completed the right turn.
However, after this remote takeover, the vehicle only temporarily recovered driving and stopped again urgently. Because it encountered another cone-shaped barrel that was discharged in the middle of the road. From the perspective inside the car, the lane width was sufficient for the vehicle to travel normally, and according to normal traffic rules, even if the vehicle was forced to cross the solid line on a road with traffic control, it did not violate traffic rules.
Waymo’s driverless car seems to be imperfect in planning and decision-making algorithms. The visual screen in the car planned a road, but the vehicle did not make any movements. It is speculated that the driverless car may think that the path does not meet the driving conditions. The vehicles behind honked impatiently and were eventually forced to pass Waymo’s driverless car by crossing double solid lines, causing local traffic congestion.After waiting for a while, the remote driving took over again, and the vehicle reversed for a distance, allowing it to travel in the left lane. However, Waymo officials seemed unsatisfied with the results of the two remote takeovers.
After driving for a while, the vehicle got stuck again at another cone-shaped barrel. Due to the continuous malfunctions, a Waymo engineer was eventually dispatched to manually take over and debug the vehicle. The scene was quite embarrassing, and to express their apologies, Waymo refunded the cost of this trip on their website. Because of these glitches, the passenger was delayed for a long time.
Lessons Learned from Failed Trips
In response to this failed trip, Waymo released a statement saying:
“As our fully driverless operations continue to expand around the greater Phoenix area, we’re encountering a growing set of driving environments, and in doing so, learning more about how our Waymo Driver responds to situations on the road. For example, when our autonomous vehicles encountered an unusual situation—a rare event beyond the millions of miles we’ve already driven—it automatically requested expert remote assistance from our highly-trained Fleet Response team. While our team was able to safely and quickly bring the vehicle to a stop, upon further review, our experts agreed it would have been better to guide the Waymo Driver to perform a U-turn to clear the area safely. This event is a reminder of the challenges that come with full autonomy. Every driver has a moment when they need to make a quick decision, and our autonomous systems will be no different. The key is to develop our technology and processes to be thoughtful and safe.”
From this video, it can be seen that Waymo’s technology is far from as perfect as we imagine. However, the vehicle is cautious enough to stop itself and wouldn’t recklessly move forward, leading to unnecessary scratches.
Self-driving cars are like tamed fierce beasts that won’t harm other traffic participants, but there are still certain conditions under which they cannot complete the designated actions.
Regarding the video that shows Waymo unable to go through the cone-shaped barrel, some foreign experts have stated that at present, Waymo’s in-vehicle system, remote monitoring ability, and ground assistance are not well coordinated, resulting in delays in problem handling. During vehicle operation, long-tail problems will continue to appear, and every problem found will promote further improvement of the system.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.