VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BELAGAVI - 590018, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA

A Technical Seminar Report On

WAYMO
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award
of BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
In
INFORMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Submitted By
Mr. ABHISHEK MALEKOPPA
(USN: 2KE17IS001)

Under the Guidance of

Mr. Mahantesh M. Sajjan
Head of Dept, ISE

K. L. E. SOCIETY’S

K. L. E. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HUBBALLI - 580030, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA

2020-21

VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BELAGAVI - 590018, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA
Seminar Report on Waymo

K. L. E. SOCIETY’S

K. L. E. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HUBBALLI - 580030, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE AND

ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Seminar Report entitled “WAYMO” submitted by Mr.
ABHISHEK MALEKOPPA with USN: 2KE17IS001 of VIII Semester, is work done
by him and submitted during 2020–2021 academic year, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of Bachelor of Engineering in Information Science and
Engineering of Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi during the academic
year 2020-2021. The seminar report has been approved as it satisfies the academic
requirement in respect of technical work prescribed for the Bachelor of Engineering
Degree.

Seminar Guide Head of the Department Signature of the

Principal
(Mr. Mahantesh M. Sajjan) (Mr. Mahantesh M. Sajjan) (Dr. B. S.
Anami)Viva Voce
Name of the Examiners Signature with
Date

1.

2.

VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Dept. of ISE, K. L. E. Institute of Technology, Hubballi - 30
Seminar Report on Waymo

BELAGAVI - 590018, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA

K. L. E. SOCIETY’S

K. L. E. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HUBBALLI - 580030, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE AND

ENGINEERING

DECLARATION

Myself, Mr. ABHISHEK MALEKOPPA [USN:2KE17IS001], student of VIII

Semester B.E., in Information Science and Engineering hereby declare that the Seminar
has been carried out by me and submitted the report in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Information Science and Engineering of
Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi during the academic year 2020-2021.

Date: 05/03/2021
ABHISHEK MALEKOPPA.
Place: HUBBALLI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Dept. of ISE, K. L. E. Institute of Technology, Hubballi - 30

Seminar Report on Waymo

The seminar report on “WAYMO” is the outcome of guidance, moral support, and
devotion best on me throughout my work. For this, I acknowledge and express my
profound sense of gratitude and thanks to everybody, who have been a source of
inspiration during the seminar preparation.

I take this opportunity to thank the Principal, Dr. Basavaraj S. Anami, for providing
healthy environment in the college, which helped in concentrating on the task. I express a
deep sense of gratitude to the H.O.D. Mr. Mahantesh M. Sajjan for providing the
inspiration required for taking the seminar to its completion. I would be failing in the
endeavor, if I do not thank the Coordinator, Mrs. Deepa S. Garag who has helped me in
every aspect of my seminar work.

I sincerely thank Mr. Mahantesh M. Sajjan for his inspiring guidance and promising
support, they gave during completion. Last but not the least I like to thank all the staff
members, teaching and non-teaching staff for helping me during the cthese of the
seminar.

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Seminar Report on Waymo

ABSTRACT

Waymo LLC is an American autonomous driving technology development company.

Waymo’s self-driving cars contain a broad set of technologies that enable the cars to
sense the vehicle surroundings, perceive and understand what is happening in the vehicle
vicinity, and determine the safe and efficient actions that the vehicle should take. Many of
these technologies are rooted in advanced semiconductor technologies, e.g. faster
transistors that enable more compute or low noise designs that enable the faintest sensor
signals to be perceived.

Many technical advances that enable self-driving cars are of course due to software and
algorithmic innovation. There have been incredible advances in machine learning that
improve the ability to perceive the world, new tracking and planning algorithms allow for
safer and smoother driving, and the software infrastructure to simulate and analyze vast
amounts of data in data centers have all been key contributors towards making self-
driving cars a reality. Along with software, hardware advances have also played a critical
role.

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Seminar Report on Waymo

ACRONYMS

Acronym Expansion
AI Artificial Intelligence
LIDAR Light Detection and Ranging
RADAR Radio Detection and Ranging
DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory

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CONTENTS

Page
No.
Abstract i
Acronyms vi
List of Figures xiv
List of Tables xvi
i
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Why Waymo Matters 2
1.2 Autonomous Vehicles 5
1.3 An Overview of technology used in Waymo 6
Chapter 2 The Waymo Driver Car 30
2.1 Components of a Waymo Driver Car 31

Chapter 3 Operation of Waymo Cars 17

3.1 Where is the car located? 17

3.2 What is around the car? 17

3.3 What will happen next? 17

3.4 What should the car do? 17

Chapter 4 Technologies involved in Waymo cars 18

4.1 Sensor Comparators 19

4.2 Compute 20

4.3 DRAM Interface 21

Chapter 5 Algorithm behind Waymo cars 22

5.1 Follow-the-past algorithm 23

5.2 Population Based Training 24

Chapter 6 How Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles work 26

6.1 The self-driving system 26

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6.2 Object and event detection response: The vehicle sensors 26

6.3 Waymo’s self-driving software 27

Bibliography 30

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Page No.

1. Pictorial Representation of Waymo car 2

2. LIDARS 13

3. Cameras 14

4. RADAR 15

5. Information flow from sensors to vehicle actuators 19

6. Sensors on Waymo’s latest self-driving cars 20

7. Compute Performance 21

8. Population Based Training 25

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LIST OF TABLES AND FLOWCHARTS

Table/Flowchart Page No.

No.
1. Flowchart of Follow-The-Past Algorithm used in Waymo cars 25

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The concept of a self-driving car has existed since the early days of automobile
development. Many technical advances that enable self-driving cars are due to software
and algorithmic innovation. There have been incredible advances in machine learning that
improve the ability to perceive the world, new tracking and planning algorithms allow for
safer and smoother driving, and the software infrastructure to simulate and analyze vast
amounts of data in data centers have all been key contributors towards making self-
driving cars a reality. Along with software, hardware advances have also played a critical
role.
Autonomously driven vehicles hold the promise to improve road safety and offer new
mobility options to millions of people. Whether they’re helping people run errands,
commute to work, or drop off kids at school, autonomously driven vehicles hold
enormous potential to transform people’s lives.

1.1 Why Waymo matters

 1.35 million deaths worldwide due to vehicle crashes in 2016
 2.4 million injuries in 2016 due to vehicle crashes
 2 out of 3 people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime
 6% increase in traffic fatalities in 2016, reaching the highest point in
nearly a decade
 There’s a clear theme to the vast majority of these incidents: human error
and inattention.

1.2 Autonomous Vehicles

A completely autonomous vehicle is one in which a computer performs all the tasks that
the human driver normally would. Ultimately, this would mean getting in a car, entering
the destination into a computer, and enabling the system. From there, the car would take
over and drive to the destination with no human input. The car would be able to sense its
environment and make steering and speed changes as necessary. This scenario would
require all of the automotive technologies mentioned above: lane detection to aid in

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passing slower vehicles or exiting a highway; obstacle detection to locate other cars ,
pedestrians, animals, etc.; adaptive cruise control to maintain a safe speed; collision
avoidance to avoid hitting obstacles in the road way; and lateral control to maintain the
cars position on the roadway. In addition, sensors would be needed to alert the car of
road or whether conditions to ensure safe traveling speeds. For example, the car would
need to slow down in snowy or icy conditions. Waymo perform many tasks while driving
without even thinking about it. Completely automating the car is a challenging task and
is a long way off. However, advances have been made in the individual systems.

1.3 An overview of Technology Used in Waymo

Google’s Waymo is a fully autonomous vehicle which is equipped with radar and
LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and such can take in much more information,
process it much more quickly and reliably, make a correct decision about a complex
situation, and then implement that decision far better than a human can. Google
anticipates that the increased accuracy of its automated driving system could help reduce
the number of traffic-related injuries and deaths The Google car system combines
information gathered for Google Street View with AI software that combines input from
video cameras inside the car, a LIDAR sensor on top of the vehicle, radar sensors on the
front of the vehicle and a position sensor attached to one of the rear wheels that helps
locate the car’s position on the map. As of 2010, Google had tested several vehicles
equipped with the system, driving 140,000 miles (230,000 km) without any human
intervention, the only accident occurring when one of the cars was rear-ended while
stopped at a red light. Google anticipates that the increased accuracy of its automated
driving system could help reduce the number of traffic-related injuries and deaths, while
using energy and space on roadways more efficiently.

The combination of these technologies and other systems such as video based lane
analysis, steering and brake actuation systems, and the programs necessary to control all
of the components will become a fully autonomous system. The problem is winning the
trust of the people to allow a computer to drive a vehicle for them, because of this, there
must be research and testing done over and over again to assure a near fool proof final
product. The product will not be accepted instantly, but over time as the systems become
more widely used people will realize the benefits of it.

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CHAPTER 2
THE WAYMO DRIVER CAR
The following is a pictorial representation of a Waymo Driver car:

Figure 1

Waymo’s Most Experienced Driver - a combination of hardware, software, and compute

that powers vehicles to safely get people and things where they’re going.

The Waymo Driver uses a comprehensive view of its surroundings and a detailed
understanding of its environment to accurately reason about its next move. No one type of
sensor on its own can provide that level of detail in all operating conditions; therefore,
Waymo spent over a decade developing a single integrated system comprised of
complementary sensors to give the Driver this comprehensive view of the world so that it
can safely navigate complex environments.

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2.1 Components of a Waymo Driver car:

1. LIDAR

Providing higher resolution across a 360 degree field of view with > 300 meter range.

As one of the Waymo Driver's most powerful sensors, lidar paints a 3D picture of its
surroundings, allowing to measure the size and distance of objects around the vehicle,
whether they're up close or over 300 meters away. Lidar data can be used to identify
objects driving into the sun on the brightest days as well as on moonless nights.

The next-generation family of lidars is designed to work together. The new 360 lidar
system provides a bird's-eye view of the cars, cyclists, and pedestrians surrounding the
vehicle. It not only helps the Waymo Driver navigate the complexities of city driving by
distinguishing the opening of a car door a city block away, it also gives it the ability to
spot road debris hundreds of meters ahead on the highway, so there's enough time for a
Waymo driven car to stop or make a lane change.

Simultaneously, the new perimeter lidars, placed at the points around the sides of the
vehicle, offer unparalleled coverage with a wide field of view to detect objects close-by.
These short-range lidars provide enhanced spatial resolution and accuracy to navigate
tight gaps in city traffic and cover potential blind spots on hilly terrain. As a system, this

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new family of lidars is a significant upgrade, enhancing the Waymo Driver’s capabilities
in a way that will help us as Waymo scale to more challenging places.

2. CAMERAS

Overlapping field of views, with high dynamic range and thermal stability to tackle more
complex environments.

With high-dynamic range and thermal stability over automotive temperature ranges, the
vision system cameras are designed to capture more detail and provide sharper images in
the toughest driving environments.

The latest long range cameras and 360 vision system now see much farther than before,
allowing us to identify important details like pedestrians and stop signs greater than 500
meters away. Through advanced design innovations, including custom lenses and precise
optomechanical engineering, the vision systems enable much higher performance levels
than cameras on cars today.

In addition, the new perimeter vision system works in conjunction with the perimeter
lidars to give the Waymo Driver another perspective of objects close to the vehicle. For
example, while the perimeter lidars detect obstacles directly in front of the vehicle with

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precision, the perimeter cameras provide the machine learning algorithms additional
details to reliably identify objects, providing more context to the traffic scene.

Concurrently, the new peripheral vision system helps us reduce blind spots caused by
parked cars or large vehicles. These peripheral cameras enable us to peek around a truck
driving in front of us, seeing if Waymo can safely overtake it or if Waymo should wait.
Together, these various types of cameras allow us to make decisions earlier, faster, and
with even more information than Waymo have ever had before.

3.RADAR

Radar: Seeing farther, and offering higher resolution over a wider field of view

While lidar helps us see objects and cameras help us understand the surroundings, radar
complements both of these with its unique ability to instantaneously see and measure an
object's velocity (or lack thereof) even in tough whether conditions such as rain, fog, and
snow.

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The decade of testing in the real world has taught us that it is beneficial when radar on
self-driving vehicles provides the system with a persistent view of their entire
surroundings. For the fifth-generation hardware sensor suite, Waymo have redesigned the
architecture, outputs, and signal processing capabilities to create one of the world's first
imaging radar system for self-driving - providing us with unparalleled resolution, range,
and field of view to see the whole scene at once. Performance is further improved by
overlapping the coverage between radars, and with the cameras and lidars as well.

While traditional automotive radars are capable of tracking moving objects, the new
imaging radar has higher resolution and enhanced signal processing capabilities that
allow it to better detect and track objects that are moving, barely moving, or stopped.

The next-generation radar can also see objects at great distances, including detecting a
motorcyclist from hundreds of meters away. Like with the other long range sensors, being
able to accurately detect objects at greater distances gives us a longer reaction time to
make a more comfortable experience for the drivers.

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CHAPTER 3

OPERATION OF WAYMO CARS

At the most basic level, human drivers need to answer four questions: “Where am I?”
(perceiving the environment around you), “What’s around me?” (processing that
information), “What will happen next?” (predicting how others in that environment will
behave), and “What should I do?” (making driving decisions based on that information).
Self-driving vehicles need to answer those questions, too.

3.1 Where is the car located?

Before the Waymo Driver can operate in any location, the Waymo team builds their own
detailed three-dimensional maps that highlight information such as road profiles, curbs
and sidewalks, lane markers, crosswalks, traffic lights, stop signs, and other road features.

3.2 What is around the car?

The Waymo Driver's sensors and software scan constantly for objects around the vehicle
—pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles, road work, obstructions—and continuously read traffic
controls, from traffic light color and railroad crossing gates to temporary stop signs. The
Waymo Driver can see up to three football fields away in every direction.

3.3 What will happen next?

The software predicts the movements of everything around based on their speed and
trajectory. It understands that a vehicle will move differently than a cyclist or pedestrian.
The software then uses that information to predict the many possible paths that other road
users may take.

3.4 What should the car do?

Based on all this information, the Waymo Driver determines the exact trajectory, speed,
lane, and steering maneuvers needed to progress along this route safely.

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CHAPTER 4

TECHNOLOGIES INVOLVED IN WAYMO CARS

Many technical advances that enable self-driving cars are due to software and algorithmic
innovation. There have been incredible advances in machine learning that improve the
ability to perceive the world, new tracking and planning algorithms allow for safer and
smoother driving, and the software infrastructure to simulate and analyze vast amounts of
data in data centers have all been key contributors towards making self-driving cars a
reality. Along with software, hardware advances have also played a critical role.

From a hardware perspective, we can divide Waymo’s self-driving technology into three
key areas:

 sensing

 compute

 embedded control.

Our sensors capture information about the vehicle surroundings, position, and
environment. The sensors send their information to a high-performance computer. The
computer fuses, processes, and interprets the sensor data, ultimately generating
trajectories that the vehicle must follow.

The computer passes these trajectories to embedded control systems, which in turn
communicate with the vehicle actuators to manipulate steering, braking, and throttle.
Figure below illustrates this pipeline.

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Each one of these processing stages has seen substantial innovation and improvements
over the past decade. For example, sensors integrate advanced optics, mechanics,
materials, and electronics. Our computers use the best-of-the best compute silicon. And
our embedded systems are highly reliable. These systems are higher fidelity and higher
performance than you would find in typical driver assist (ADAS) or semi-autonomous
vehicles. This is because our goal at Waymo is to deliver fully autonomous self-driving
capabilities that do not require a driver at the steering wheel and do not rely on the driver
to take over vehicle control in complex situations. The next sections dive into a few of
these blocks, highlighting areas where transistors have been key to putting us on a path
towards fully autonomous self-driving cars.

4.1 Sensor Comparators

Waymo’s self-driving cars contain many sensors. Figure 2 shows the sensor
configuration on our newest self-driving cars – the Fiat-Chrysler Pacifica Minivan. The
dome on the center of the vehicle roof integrates laser and camera systems that provide a
360° view around the vehicle. We also integrate sensors on the vehicle periphery,
ensuring that we can see objects both near and far.

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Each of these sensors contain a unique sense element – radars contain antennas, cameras
have photo diodes, and lidars can sense minute numbers of photons at very precise
wavelengths. And although the capture method is different for each of these sensors, they
all share the need to translate subtle analog information into digital information that the
downstream computer can process. This analog to digital translation is accomplished via
sensor-specific ADC designs, of which comparators are almost universally the work-
horse that make the conversions possible. What makes these comparators so important is
the performance and precision requirements, as well as the number of comparators you’ll
find across our self-driving systems.

4.2 Compute

We integrate a high performance computer into our cars. This computer in real-time runs
our onboard software to perform all the tasks required to fully autonomously operate the
vehicle – process incoming sensor data, detect and classify objects, track and predict their
behaviors, plan where the vehicle should move next, etc. A tremendous amount of
compute is required to perform these tasks, and especially with the increasing use of
deep-nets, there is very clear correlation between quality of results and the amount of
compute that can be applied to a problem.

Figure: Compute Performance

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4.3 DRAM Interface

DRAM stands for Dynamic Random Access Memory A type of random access
memory that stores each bit (0 or 1) of data in a memory cell, these memory cells
consist of two devices, a tiny capacitor, and a transistor, both are based on (MOS)
technology. Self-driving car compute has unique memory system requirements. The
working-set size is of the order of 10’s GB. The working set is comprised of a few frames
from each of our sensors, the active region of driving maps, behavior prediction models,
deep-net weights, etc. What makes the memory system interesting is that much of the data
must be accessible at very high bandwidth. And since it is too large to fit into onchip
SRAMs, we require a very high performance DRAM based memory systems. High-
bandwidth DRAM is often at odds with low-cost, low-power, and highly-integrated
designs. In-package solutions such as HBM2[7] for data-center and HPC applications are
close fits. However their cost and package complexity are challenges in the automotive
context. As mobile[8] and data center applications continue to push the envelope in

memory system design and package integration, we expect innovative solutions to appear
for the automotive market as well.

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CHAPTER 5

ALGORITHM BEHIND WAYMO CARS

Interactive algorithms for path following involve direct communication with external
sources such as receiving navigation data from the leader or consulting GPS coordinates.
The Follow-the-Past algorithm is one such example; it involves receiving and interpreting
position data, orientation data, and steering angle data from a leader vehicle. The
objective is to mimic these three navigational properties in order to accurately follow the
path set by the leader. As orientation and steering angle are associated with GPS
positional data, the following vehicle can update its navigational state to match that of the
leader vehicle at the appropriate moment in time. One developed algorithm is best
described as a placing a trail of breadcrumbs based on the leading vehicle’s position. A
cubic spline fit is applied to the generated breadcrumbs to establish a smooth path by
which to travel. This developed algorithm was tested and showed centimeter level
precision in following a desired path.

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5.1 FOLLOW-THE-PAST ALGORITHM:

During the manual driving of the path the orientation and steering angle are stored
together hey with the position at every moment hey all this information is used by the
follow the past method which is composed of 3 independent behaviours:

1. turn towards the recorded orientation

2. mimic the recorded steering angle

3. move towards the path

Each behaviour suggests a steering angle and is reactive, i.e, operates on the current input
values ;orientation ,steering angle and the shortest distance to the path .The 3 behaviours
are fused into one action ,the commanded steering angle .

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5.1.1 FLOWCHART FOR FOLLOW-THE-PAST ALGORITHM IN

WAYMO CARS

5.2 POPULATION BASED TRAINING

A new method for training neural networks which allows an experimenter to quickly
choose the best set of hyperparameters and model for the task. This technique - known as
Population Based Training (PBT) - trains and optimises a series of networks at the same
time, allowing the optimal set-up to be quickly found. Crucially, this adds no
computational overhead, can be done as quickly as traditional techniques and is easy to
integrate into existing machine learning pipelines.

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The technique is a hybrid of the two most commonly used methods for hyperparameter
optimisation: random search and hand-tuning. In random search, a population of neural
networks are trained independently in parallel and at the end of training the highest
performing model is selected. Typically, this means that a small fraction of the
population will be trained with good hyperparameters, but many more will be trained with
bad ones, wasting computer resources.

PBT - like random search - starts by training many neural networks in parallel with
random hyperparameters. But instead of the networks training independently, it uses
information from the rest of the population to refine the hyperparameters and direct
computational resources to models which show promise. This takes its inspiration from
genetic algorithms where each member of the population, known as a worker, can exploit
information from the remainder of the population. For example, a worker might copy the
model parameters from a better performing worker. It can also explore new
hyperparameters by changing the current values randomly.

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CHAPTER 6

HOW WAYMO’S FULLY AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

WORK

6.1 The Self-Driving System

Our fully self-driving system is designed to operate without a human driver, unlike
ADAS technologies sold in cars today such as adaptive cruise-control or lane-keeping
systems, which require constant monitoring by the driver. Our system includes the
software, hardware, and compute that, when integrated into the vehicle, performs all
driving functions. The Waymo Driver is designed to perform the entire dynamic driving
task within a geographic area and under certain defined conditions, without the need for a
human driver. This type of technology falls under SAE International’s definition of a
Level 4 automated driving system, as our technology also has the ability to bring a
vehicle to a safe stop (i.e. a minimal risk condition) in the event of any system failure.
Unlike driving automation systems at lower levels (Level, 1, Level 2, and Level 3), a
Level 4 system also has the ability to bring a vehicle to a safe stop (i.e. achieve a minimal
risk condition) in the event of any system failures, without any expectation that a human
driver takes over

6.2 Object and Event Detection and Response: The Vehicle Sensors

To meet the complex demands of autonomous driving, Waymo has developed an array of
sensors that allow our vehicle to see 360° degrees, both in daytime and at night, and up to
nearly three football fields away. This multi-layered sensor suite works together
seamlessly to paint a detailed 3D picture of the world, showing dynamic and static objects
including pedestrians, cyclists, other vehicles, traffic lights, construction cones, and other
road features.

Lidar (Laser) System Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) works day and night by
beaming out millions of laser pulses per second—in 360° degrees—and measuring how
long it takes to reflect off a surface and return to the vehicle. Waymo’s system includes

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three types of lidar developed in-house: a short-range lidar that gives our vehicle an
uninterrupted view directly around it, a high-resolution mid-range lidar, and a powerful
long-range lidar that can see almost three football fields away.

Vision (Camera) System: The vision system includes cameras designed to see the world
in context, as a human would, but with a simultaneous 360° degree field of view. Because
our high-resolution vision system detects color, it can help our system spot traffic lights,
construction zones, school buses, and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles. Waymo’s
vision system is comprised of several sets of high-resolution cameras, designed to work
well at long range, in daylight and low-light conditions.

Radar System: Radar uses electromagnetic waves to perceive objects and movement.
Radar remains effective in rain, fog, and snow, and operates equally well day or night.
Waymo’s radar system has a continuous 360 degree view, so it can track the presence and
speed of road users in front, behind and to both sides of the vehicle.

Inertial Measurement Unit: This module uses accelerometers and gyroscopes with input
from GPS, maps, wheels speeds, and laser and radar measurements to provide highly
accurate position, velocity, and heading information to the vehicle. This information
remains highly accurate even in the event of a sensor, vehicle component, or other system
failure.

Supplemental Sensors: Waymo vehicles also have a number of additional sensors,

including our audio detection system that can hear police and emergency vehicle sirens
up to hundreds of feet away, and GPS to supplement our vehicles’ extensive
understanding of their physical locations in the world.

6.3 Waymo’s Self-Driving Software

Waymo’s self-driving software is the “brain” of the Waymo Driver. It makes sense of the
information coming from our sensors, and uses that information to make the best driving
decisions for each situation. Waymo has spent more than a decade building and refining
our software, using machine learning and other advanced engineering techniques. Waymo
trained the software through years of careful design and testing with over 15 billion miles
of simulated driving, and more than 20 million miles of public driving experience. The
system possesses a deep, contextual understanding of the world; this is a key part of what

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differentiates Level 4 technology. Waymo’s self-driving software doesn’t just detect the
presence of other objects; it actually understands what an object is, how it’s likely to
behave, and how that should affect our vehicle’s own behavior on the road. This is how
vehicles safely navigate roads in fully autonomous mode. While our software is made up
of many different pieces, here we detail three main components: perception, behavior
prediction, and planner.

6.3.1 Perception: Perception is the part of our software that detects and classifies objects
on the road and estimates their states over time (e.g., speed, heading, and acceleration),
while also producing scene understanding of the environment. Our self-driving software
takes the myriad of details coming from Waymo’s sensors and turns them into a cohesive
real-time view of the world. Perception helps our vehicle distinguish pedestrians, cyclists,
motorcyclists, vehicles, and more. It also distinguishes the color of static objects such as
traffic signals. For these kinds of objects, perception enables our system to semantically
understand the situation around our vehicle—whether there’s a construction zone or a
lane is blocked because of the many cones in front of it.

6.3.2 Behavior Prediction: With behavior prediction, our software is designed to model,
predict, and understand the intent of each object on the road. Because we have millions of
miles of on-road driving experience, our vehicles have highly accurate models of how
different road users are likely to behave. For example, our software understands that,
though pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists may look similar, their behavior can vary
dramatically. Pedestrians move more slowly than either cyclists or motorcyclists, but they
can change direction more suddenly.

6.3.3 Planner: Our planner considers all the information our software has gathered from
perception and behavior prediction, and plots out a path for our vehicles. In our
experience, the best drivers are defensive drivers. That’s why we’ve baked in defensive
driving behaviors, such as staying out of other drivers’ blind spots and leaving extra room
for cyclists and pedestrians. Waymo’s planner can also think several steps ahead. For
example, if our software perceives that an adjacent lane ahead is closed due to
construction, and predicts that a cyclist in that lane will move over, our planner can make
the decision to slow down or make room for the cyclist well ahead of time. Using our on-
road experience, we’re also refining our driving so our movements on the road are

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Seminar Report on Waymo

smooth and comfortable for passengers inside our vehicles, and natural and predictable
for other road users.

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Seminar Report on Waymo

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Rosenband, D. L. (2017). Inside Waymo’s self-driving car: My favorite transistors.

2017 Symposium on VLSI Circuits. doi:10.23919/vlsic.2017.8008500

[2] Thorsten Luettel, Michael Himmelsbach, and Hans-Joachim Wuensche, Autonomous

Ground Vehicles-Concepts and a Path to the Future, Vol. 100, May 13th,Proceedings of

the IEEE,2012

[3] Nilotpal Chakraborty, Raghvendra Singh Patel, Intelligent Agents and Autonomous

Cars : A Case Study, International Journal of Engineering Research Technology (IJERT),

ISSN: 2278-0181, Vol. 2 Issue 1, January- 2013

[4] Dragomir Anguelov, Carole Dulong, Daniel Filip, Christian Frueh, Stphane Lafon

Google Street View: Capturing the World at Street Level, International Journal of

Engineering Research Technology (IJERT),Vol.43, Issue:6 Page(s):32 38.2011

[5] Julien Moras, Veronique Cherfaoui, Phillipe Bonnifait A lidar Perception Scheme for

Intelligent Vehicle Navigation 11th International Conference on Control Automation

Robotics Vision (ICARCV), Pages: 1809 1814, 2010.

Web Resources:

[6] Official Waymo Blog: https://waymo.com/tech

[7] Official Waymo Whitepaper: https://waymo.com/safety

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