Waymo is working with Intel to develop a completely original, dedicated compute stack for its self-driving vehicles. A unique product has already been created, collaborated on from the design phase all the way through final production, and it drives Waymo’s current vehicle lineup. The two companies’ collaboration is ongoing, as is development of advanced compute meant to serve as the core of the self-driving stack, powering everything from the sensors to the multi-threaded AI processes that allow each car to make individual decisions outside of their hive mind. The goal is to bring all of the cars up to levels 4 and 5 of autonomous driving, which essentially encapsulates the spectrum of fully safe autonomous driving on a level that’s consistently on par with or above the average human driver.
Waymo’s use of Intel-made kit that’s developed hand in hand allows them to fully coordinate the systems for the best possible efficiency and least possible bugs and compatibility issues. The processor at the core of it all is fundamentally different from anything else in the world of computing, and even uses a custom architecture. According to Intel, future development alongside Waymo will focus on increasing the power of the core parts of the self-driving car, such as the processor. Increasing efficiency to allow more scale and less power usage is also planned. Development of other parts of Waymo’s self-driving kit with Intel’s help will be a secondary concern, since most systems currently in place not only do what they need to do for the time being, but work well enough with current core kit to allow for further development.
Waymo has been working closely with Intel essentially from the very beginning, using Intel tech in the development of multiple systems related to self-driving cars. Specifically, the two have collaborated since 2009, when Waymo was still a part of Google. Back then, Waymo did not use Intel tech for every part of the self-driving car like it did today, instead using Intel processors and other core technologies to drive individual parts of the autonomous test fleet. These days, Intel kit sits at the heart of every part of Waymo’s self-driving Chrysler Pacifica units.