Waymo: A Few Bugs? Impossible, Google Does Not Do Bugs, Does It?

July 5, 2022

I read an amusing article about Google’s smart autos. It was “Traffic Cones Confused a Waymo Self-Driving Car. Then Things Got Worse.” I noted this explanation of a minor issue:

A confused Waymo self-driving car was captured on video as it became stranded on an Arizona road earlier this month while carrying a passenger and then unexpectedly driving away as a worker from the company’s roadside assistance arrived to help. But the Waymo vehicle soon became stuck farther down the road, which was lined with construction cones. The Waymo worker caught up to the vehicle, took over, and drove the paying passenger to his final destination. Waymo operates a limited ride hail service in Chandler, Arizona.

Traffic cones are familiar, if unloved, accoutrements of modern highway life. Telecommunication companies, contractors related to elected officials, and fun loving high school students put them in interesting places. Japan has traffic cones with embossed faces, according to the real news outfit SoraNews24.com:

This image originated with www.soranews24.com and I am eager to credit them for their outstanding news coverage of traffic cones. Could the face on the cone have frightened the almost sentient Google smart software?

An outfit called Briskoda.net offers a traffic cone with humanoid characteristics but no explanation.

Kudos to Briskoda, a forum for the owners and lovers of the outstanding Skoda vehicles. Sorry. I don’t know how to enter the S with the little hat. Check out www.briskoda.net, and you may inspired to acquire this gem of a European vehicle.

If the Waymo smart software was confused by these types of traffic cones, I think we should forgive Google for the misstep described in the article. If the smart software is just not functioning, perhaps a critical look is warranted? Perhaps Google has to put “waymo wood” behind this smart driver autonomous thing.

Stephen E Arnold, July 5, 2022

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, Google, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.