Waymo Is Growing Faster Than Ever. So Are Its ‘Edge Cases.’

Waymo's driverless cars are expanding quickly across the United States. The company now has vehicles that operate in 15 U.S. cities, and this number continues to grow. This rapid growth means more Waymo cars are on the roads, interacting with a wider variety of real-world environments.

As these autonomous vehicles expand their service areas, they frequently encounter new and complex situations that are not pre-programmed into their systems. These unusual events are often called 'edge cases'. An edge case could be anything from a highly unusual traffic obstruction, like unexpected construction debris or a unique street fair setup, to complex interactions with pedestrians or other drivers behaving in unforeseen ways. The challenge for the cars is to correctly understand and react to these novel scenarios without a pre-existing script.

Waymo's technology is designed to learn, but with more cars in more places, the number of these 'edge cases' is also increasing. Engineers at Waymo work hard to teach the cars how to effectively handle these unique incidents. By continuously updating the vehicles' software with data from these real-world encounters, Waymo aims to improve the safety and reliability of its driverless technology, ensuring the cars can navigate almost any circumstance they might face on public roads.