Exclusive: Waymo's "driverless" cars are no longer driverless. Company has put back a human "safety" driver behind the wheel of its most advanced vans: theinformation.com/articles/waymo…
Remember the video last year about the first fully automated vehicles? During subsequent tests, a waymo test driver would be in the passenger/back seat. Now that has changed. 
We also found out where these most advanced prototypes are being tested (the approximate map is in the article). It's a relatively small chunk of Phoenix burbs—roughly 60 square miles, or 5%. (this is a teaser)
The company has acknowledged internally it underestimated the problem of "safety" driver fatigue and how to prevent those people from getting sleepy due to monotony of their jobs.
The company has introduced "co-drivers" who sit next to the safety drivers during daytime shifts. Previously they just had one person in the car. And they are installing "fatigue cameras" to monitor the safety drivers. (Photo is not of Waymo's but it's kind of like that.)
The key thing is: Waymo's tech is super advanced relative to rivals, but the problem is sooooooo big and safety drivers aren't going to be jettisoned en masse anytime soon. Let's talk about the things that are still hard for Waymo and areas where it is making progress...
The vans have been able to make some PHX airport trips successfully! Of course, that is mainly highway driving. But it's an important component of ride hailing. Like 20% or more of trips are to airports. (Photo from Alden Woodrow of recent testing at OAK airport)
And the number of "disengagements" or when safety drivers need to take over has fallen. As have requests to remote operators who helps the cars out when they have non safety critical problems. Better abilities to swerve, etc. But they're not like the AVs on The Simpsons...
The hardest things for Waymo's most advanced vans are transitions from 25mph zones to 45 mph zones. There's a lot of that in the Phoenix burbs. (e.g. this kind of intersection)
And the opening anecdote of our big article about Waymo's challenges this summer started with that kind of intersection, which caused human drivers to get stuck behind Waymo vans as they tried to go from the 25 mph street to the 45 mph one:
Other tough things: Narrow two lane streets where there is not enough room to satisfy the “bubble,” or space buffer that the vehicles prefer. U-turns. And more...
To learn more about the progress and remaining challenges that Waymo has as the leader of suburban AV testing, please see this article and others from our series this year. theinformation.com/articles/waymo… And send any feedback about safety drivers or other difficult problems.
Post script: as Waymo preps a commercial launch of a robotaxi service, it has hired a former @NTSB chief to oversee safety and a chief commercial officer, following the departure of managers from Waymo's business side. medium.com/waymo/waymo-we…
