A new video, statement from a Waymo former Chief Safety Officer and a mass exodus show L4 is nowhere close

The video — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdKCQKBvH-A&t=664s

Press article –Waymo had to rescue an autonomous van that was confused by safety cones https://www.engadget.com/waymo-213249367.html

Sorry but micro-ODD L4 is not L4. Driving in a small area, in good weather, with remote driver assist and a safety driver 90% of the time, needing remote assistance for benign scenarios and not being able to handle things like simple construction areas, is not legitimate L4. Waymo’s statement that it was driving “fully autonomously” until it stumbled on a benign construction areas is misleading desperate hype.

Now the statement from Deborah Hersman, Waymo’s former Chief Safety Officer — “I think it’s going to take much longer than we think to deploy fully self-driving AVs across our system, I think we have to focus on the ADAS opportunities we have in front of us.”

And finally, the mass exodus. Several folks in leadership have left in the past 5 months

(Updated 5–28–2021)

· John Krafcik CEO

· Ger Dwyer CFO

· Adam Frost Head of Automotive Partnerships and Corporate Development

· Deborah Hersman Chief Safety Officer

· Tim Willis Head of Manufacturing, Global Supply and General Manager of their LiDAR business

· Sheryl House Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations

· Qi Hommes Head of Safety leaves for Zoox (update 5–28–2021)

If you look at these issues and the years, labor hours, miles and billions spent to data and this infinitesimal progress, it is easy to see Waymo, nor the industry, is remotely close to L4. And they never will be relying on the real-world and gaming-based simulation. (And this doesn’t even count the fact that at some point they will have to allow disengagements to learn complex/crash scenarios, especially those that cannot be avoided. Or where the “safety driver” must hang in to the last second, precluding safe disengagement. That will injure and fatally injure people.)

(The “autonowash” folks and the PAVE Campaign promote Waymo’s use of L4 here vs calling it the autonowashing it is. Yet they are all over Tesla. Why? Because in addition to being more reckless in several areas, it is not a member of PAVE. If these folks were ethically courageous they would tell the truth and maybe shock the industry into fixing itself before the first child or family is killed.)

More in my articles below. Including how to fix of this:

Autonomous Vehicle Industry’s Self-Inflicted and Avoidable Collapse — Ongoing Update

· https://imispgh.medium.com/autonomous-vehicle-industrys-self-inflicted-and-avoidable-collapse-ongoing-update-c21d9e65cc35

The Autonomous Vehicle Industry can be Saved by doing the Opposite of what is being done now

· https://medium.com/@imispgh/the-autonomous-vehicle-industry-can-be-saved-by-doing-the-opposite-of-what-is-being-done-now-b4e5c6ae9237

Waymo says it doesn’t cut corners and that’s a big problem

· https://imispgh.medium.com/waymo-says-it-doesnt-cut-corners-and-that-s-a-big-problem-f5ed3cc2ea22

If Waymo is really L4, why are they hiding data from Chandler residents and the rest of us? Autonowashing?

· https://imispgh.medium.com/if-waymo-is-really-l4-why-are-they-hiding-data-from-chandler-residents-and-the-rest-of-us-5dce0de45e31

Be Wary of Waymo’s New Safety Record and Brad Templeton’s Declaration the System is Superhuman and should be Deployed Today

· https://imispgh.medium.com/be-wary-of-waymos-new-safety-record-and-brad-templeton-s-declaration-the-system-is-superhuman-and-ea59f5739567

SAE Autonomous Vehicle Engineering Magazine — Simulation’s Next Generation (featuring Dactle)

· https://www.sae.org/news/2020/08/new-gen-av-simulation

My name is Michael DeKort — I am a former system engineer, engineering and program manager for Lockheed Martin. I worked in aircraft simulation, the software engineering manager for all of NORAD, the Aegis Weapon System, and on C4ISR for DHS.

Key Autonomous Vehicle Industry Participation

- Founder SAE On-Road Autonomous Driving Simulation Task Force

- Member SAE ORAD Verification and Validation Task Force

- Stakeholder USDOT VOICES (Virtual Open Innovation Collaborative Environment for Safety)

- Member SAE G-34 / EUROCAE WG-114 Artificial Intelligence in Aviation

- Stakeholder for UL4600 — Creating AV Safety Guidelines

- Member of the IEEE Artificial Intelligence & Autonomous Systems Policy Committee

- Presented the IEEE Barus Ethics Award for Post 9/11 DoD/DHS Whistleblowing Efforts

My company is Dactle

We are building an aerospace/DoD/FAA level D, full L4/5 simulation-based testing and AI system with an end-state scenario matrix to address several of the critical issues in the AV/OEM industry I mentioned in my articles below. This includes replacing 99.9% of public shadow and safety driving. As well as dealing with significant real-time, model fidelity and loading/scaling issues caused by using gaming engines and other architectures. (Issues Unity will confirm. We are now working together. We are also working with UAV companies). If not remedied these issues will lead to false confidence and performance differences between what the Plan believes will happen and what actually happens. If someone would like to see a demo or discuss this further please let me know.