Waymo Unveils 6th-Gen Driver, Eyes Scale

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Alphabet’s Waymo (NASDAQ:GOOG) is taking another big step in the autonomous driving race, unveiling its 6th generation driver and signaling it is ready to move faster toward large scale deployment.

The system is built on nearly 200 million fully autonomous miles driven across more than 10 major cities and expanding freeway networks. Waymo says the upgraded sensing stack, combining lidar, radar and external audio receivers, can pull detail from deep shadows and bright glare in ways that go beyond human eyes and ears. A new 17 megapixel imager captures richer data with fewer cameras, while radar and lidar provide backup in rain and snow when visibility drops.

This is not just a tech refresh. Waymo is also shifting operations at its Phoenix facility to support production of tens of thousands of vehicles per year. The market took notice. Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Pony.ai (NASDAQ:PONY) and Mobileye (NASDAQ:MBLY) felt pressure as investors weighed the competitive implications.