Another State is Going to Unleash Self-Driving Cars

Self-driving cars are being tested all over the United States. New York City, Sacramento, and San Francisco are just some of the places you can see autonomous vehicles on the road. Waymo, Google's self-driving car division, has been a leader of the tech. They recently partnered with Intel to further hone what their vehicles can do.

The CEO of Waymo, John Krafcik, recently wrote a Medium post detailing where the company will be testing their cars next: Michigan. Engineers have been testing the vehicles in cold-weather conditions for five years, and they are confident that their vehicles can handle the snowy Michigan roads as well as Michiganders.

 

Krafcik wrote in the post, "We'll be giving our vehicles even more practice driving in snow, sleet, and ice. This type of testing will give us the opportunity to assess the way our sensors perform in wet, cold conditions." This is an important part of passenger safety. He continues, "It will also build on the advanced driving skills we’ve developed over the last eight years by teaching our cars how to handle things like skidding on icy, unplowed roads."

The vehicles will be tested by trained safety drivers in and around Detroit, near Waymo's self-driving technology development center in Novi.