<div id="readability-page-1"><div id="body"> Waymo is rolling out its sixth-generation autonomous driving system, saying it's designed to avoid a repeat of past weather-related snafus. It's also causing controversy by putting the new kit on vehicles built by a Chinese automaker. The sixth-generation Driver, as Google-backed Waymo calls it, uses the same three-part camera/radar/lidar vision system as previous generations of its autonomous vehicle stack. The company claims this newest version, its first new platform since 2020, does significantly more with less thanks to years of hardware and software improvements. &#34;This system's expanded capabilities allow us to safely broaden our footprint into more diverse environments, including those with extreme winter weather,&#34; Waymo engineering VP Satish Jeyachandran wrote in the company's announcement. Who from the Bay Area, where Waymo vehicles are plentiful, could forget packs of self-driving cars gumming up traffic thanks to a thick San Francisco fog that left them unable to navigate? Waymo hopes its new sensors, like a new in-house-developed 17-megapixel imager, will lead it to ever-crummier pastures without succumbing to the elements. Better sensors also allow Waymo to decrease the number of cameras in a sixth-gen Driver by more than half compared to the fifth-gen system, all while providing better low-light sensitivity, higher resolution and increased dynamic range. The new lidar system, Jeyachandran said, offers similar upgrades that help it better penetrate weather and avoid distortion caused by highly reflective road signs and other surfaces that could leave vehicles unable to proceed. The Waymo engineering VP also noted that the cost of lidar and radar systems has decreased considerably over the past five years while their range and sensitivity have improved, leading to lower overall costs and better performance./p&gt; The new radar, Jeyachandran noted, includes improved algorithms along with better hardware to provide better performance in rain and snow - and there's a healthy dose of AI in the new kit, too, naturally. &#34;This 6th-generation system maximizes the benefit of sensor fusion by leveraging lightweight, powerful machine-learned models to extract maximum information from each sensor and dynamically optimize the performance of every sensing component,&#34; Jeyachandran said. Waymo said the sixth-gen Driver hardware is designed to be streamlined and able to be plugged into multiple vehicle form factors, but it appears the first to support the tech is the electric minivan-style vehicle the company has developed with Chinese automaker Zeekr, the Ojai. Waymo told us that sixth-gen Driver systems are also being attached to Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles in the initial rollout batch, but added the company has no plans to retrofit its existing 5th gen fleet. Waymo's partnership with Zeekr, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate, the Geely Group, has attracted criticism from American lawmakers, who grilled the robotaxi outfit in a hearing earlier this month. <ul> <li>Tesla Robotaxi videos show Elon's way behind Waymo</li> <li>Angry mob trashes and sets fire to Waymo self-driving car</li> <li>Autonomous cars, drones cheerfully obey prompt injection by road sign</li> <li>Waymo chalks up another four-legged casualty on San Francisco streets</li> </ul> Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) accused Waymo of &#34;getting in bed with China&#34; while simultaneously claiming the US was also locked in a technological race with the Middle Kingdom. Moreno accused Waymo of trying to circumvent the US ban on connected vehicle technology from China and Russia. Waymo chief safety officer Mauricio Peña said that the Zeekr vehicles it uses don't have any connected technology, and are only outfitted with Waymo's own autonomous driver systems. Waymo told The Register in an email that Zeekr isn't getting any access to its autonomous driving tech as part of the deal, nor will it be able to access any rider information, only serving as the base vehicle that Waymo will outfit with its own autonomy hardware. Waymo's autonomy was also questioned in the hearing, with the company being forced to admit that, like failed outfit Cruise, its autonomous vehicles still get help from humans on occasion. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that some of Waymo's vehicle assistance workers are located in the Philippines, which he called a safety and cybersecurity risk. The sixth-gen Driver system and the Ojai are currently only available to chauffeur Waymo employees. No date was given as to when either will reach the public, with Waymo only telling us that it'd be sometime later this year. ® </div></div>

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Waymo launching China-made van that won't fail in rain, snow, or gloom of night

- Waymo has introduced its sixth-generation autonomous driving system, aiming to improve performance in adverse weather conditions and utilizing advanced sensor technology.  
- The new system is designed to be compatible with multiple vehicles, starting with the Zeekr Ojai and Hyundai Ioniq 5, but has faced criticism due to its partnership with the Chinese automaker.  
- Concerns have been raised by U.S. lawmakers regarding potential technological ties with China, while Waymo asserts that its system operates independently without connected vehicle technology from Zeekr.