Test Vehicles in Chicago

Technically these are ground truth validation vehicles. They validate what the cameras are seeing and measuring and look at distances to objects around them, the roads, etc etc.

Illinois has some of the strictest AV laws around. Waymo is essentially waiting for the general assembly to make a move.

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These vehicles have existed for years. They are never going back to LIDAR. Their head of AI already talked about this.

Might be geofencing the area for unsupervised FSD version? Really hoping they would have a map to have unsupervised on certain location and expand slowly.

this will never happen

I wonder why Chicago. State with some of the hardest and untested AV laws. Plus the craziest weather. Maybe that's the logic? If you can do it in Chicago, you can do it anywhere!

most likely testing the robotaxi in chicago

It could be validation for a 360 live camera viewer like some modern cars have.

where can we get that passenger screen set up?😝

If I was Waymo I wouldn’t even try in Chicago. Yeah the city is a grid but lower wacker has no reception and conditions can get pretty awful. Get every metro in the south covered before you risk it with Chicago/NYC

Nice to see Luminar still alive and kicking somewhere

Ground truth validation, not testing

Ashok (I believe) showed off the 360° visualization that the car sees a couple weeks ago, I’m sure you can find it on YouTube and X, but it’s really cool, basically recreates EVERYTHING around the car in real time, even kinda looks like how LiDAR replicates images but just using the cameras and mapping it in real time

No

Tesla bought $2M worth of Luminar’s sensors in 2024, I’m assuming they’re still using from that stash

Numerous robotaxis have already been spotted in Chicago testing. Why say something you know is untrue and can be easily proved?

Cybercabs also testing in Chicago. https://preview.redd.it/cf2goegn8tkg1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=978c1314e36e341f20d7d6c506c8af3ece154e6d

https://preview.redd.it/zek2lcro8tkg1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec244c1a4309f8aabcdfb0bc494de00fa298b88d

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1.) that’s not a Robotaxi, it’s a ground truth validation car FOR Robotaxi. 2.) it’s not testing it’s validating

That is a Cybercab

Cybercab is a robotaxi.

Why not New York?

Correct but that is not what OP posted. Those are Model Y’s, not robotaxis but ground truth validation vehicles

Pittsburgh has the weather and harder roads to navigate. Partly why Uber, Aurora, and Argo had operations there. Oh and Carnegie Mellon.

So that they have some real chance at autonomy?

Multiple Cybercabs have been in Chicago since the first part of this year.

I’m guessing the sensors on the front with the exposed connections attach to lidar sensors for mapping?

Waze already has Bluetooth beacons installed all over the lower levels of wacker. I assume that Waymo will tap into their sister company’s technology.

There are things that evolved for billions of years to “see” with sound. Or even have no sight. It’s just a data and algorithm problem, one that will be brute forced with lidar as a shortcut. If anyone can crack it it’s Tesla; if you think they don’t have the incentive or the finances…..🤷‍♂️ I think using lidar + cameras until you get a system smart enough to just use cameras is a better approach—but I’m also not a visionary or a clever engineer.

You are right, if we give Tesla a billion years I bet they can do it. Or you can look at any of the other companies that use lidar today to achieve the same goal.

\> billions of years \> machine learning Who’s gonna tell him? I think you’re one of those guys. Tesla doesn’t need you to tell them how to engineer.

NYC is only allowing a few Waymos with humans behind the wheel for testing and the governor just shot down a statewide plan for NY AV’s in general, so not looking super positive for AVs. Shockingly, nobody is bringing safety statistics into the equation but we’re certainly going to do whatever it takes to protect jobs at all costs, because that always works well as history demonstrates repeatedly.

I'm not telling them how to engineer though. They're the ones that are 7 years late on their own self imposed timeline to full autonomy. And the only reason they are vision only is also fully self inflicted.

Yeah ok.

Ehh I dont want lidar

Do you not have a tesla and not notice the insane driving experience on fsd? Why are you so strongly pessimistic about this? Lidar sucks I promise

Sadly leftists have influenced people’s genuine thoughts on this kinda stuff and he’s just really biased against Elon not even realizing fsd is already pretty much perfect. I miss pre 2019 man. Idiots like that weren’t as common

Lower Wacker is a tiny tiny part of the Chicago market. Chicago is uncomplicated otherwise and mostly very drivable.

I saw these driving around in Crystal lake like 2 weeks ago

Thanks for the information

Why do you want that? Wouldn’t it be better, or at least acceptable, if he turns out to be correct?

Surely they could just put cellular repeaters down there? Every major metro system does it. Hardly seems like an insurmountable challenge compared to regulatory approval.

Yeah “they” probably could but they haven’t in decades and it’s common for a lot of people to avoid lower wacker bc they don’t want to get lost without reception

Right but are you going to geo fence one of the most important road segments in one of the densest part of the city

For New York, I’d say it’s impossible to follow all driving rules and drive capably- you need to inch forward and be an aggressive driver and these cars don’t do that yet I believe

I don't think lower Wacker is so mysterious that it can't be solved by self driving cars. As long as they have an internal map of lower wacker they should handle it better than a human driver.

Or a car that can think .

I’m not saying it’s a challenge to solve the map. I’m saying that in the event of an accident - waymo cannot remote access the vehicle, for example

I'm pretty sure these days there are cell signals down there

My FSD handles lower wacker just fine. My Model Y has never lost GPS signal down there

I just want to know if it’s less than $8 to go two miles

My model Y with FSD took me to a dead end on a level 3 underground road downtown Chicago thinking I was at the surface. People were selling drugs, homeless tents, the shit was straight out of apocalyptic movie. I took over and noped the f out

Selling drugs!?

That’s gey

Waymo wannabes

Waymo LiDAR!

I saw these two driving one in front of the other in the Oak Brook area a couple days ago

That’s lower, lower wacker. It’s where the impound garage is when you get towed.

Just a reminder Waymo is doing 400k rides per week lmao

I was losing reception last time I was there a couple weeks ago (tmobile)

Why not? Look at how long Waymo was in the bay before they started with the airports. And a WAY higher percentage of trips want to go to/from the airport than need to go down lower wacker.

Take a ride in a Waymo sometime. They've already figured out that sort of thing in other areas, albeit with different norms. Waymos will do things like cross over double yellow lines when they need to (as will a human). Waymos will turn into the not-nearest lane when they need to (as will a human). NYC is its own set of very specific and perhaps more drastic de facto rules, but it's not a problem that they aren't the de jure rules. Try following all driving rules _anywhere_ and you'll realize pretty quickly that you cannot, in reality, follow all the rules all the time.

I cannot wait to take a Waymo - not available where I live (Chicago)

Massive market?

all you did was read a license plate and got downvoted fucking reddit

All good, it made me laugh. I’m not worried about the internet points :)

What the f is that ugly thing on top

That is lidar!

Those cameras will be ripped off in a week

Brother fsd is pretty much perfect on 2022 cars lol

the slightly offset camera can make a huge difference with morning sun glare. My car really struggles with sun glare for 10-15 minutes when the sun angle is just right. It's the only thing that I ever have to intervene for. Considering the cost of another camera is \~$20, seems like it could be an easy fix for significantly increased reliability.