Waymo Showers Us With More Information On Driving Simulation - CleanTechnica

Waymo, a leading autonomous driving company originating from Google, recently provided an in-depth overview of its advanced driving simulation technology amid a pivotal phase in its development. The company emphasized the critical role of simulation in scaling its robotaxi operations and improving safety, revealing its new "Waymo World Model." This model leverages Google DeepMind’s Genie 3, a sophisticated generative AI that creates hyper-realistic, interactive 3D driving environments. Unlike traditional simulation methods that rely solely on on-road data, Waymo’s approach incorporates extensive pre-training on diverse video datasets, enabling the simulation of rare and complex scenarios—such as natural disasters or unusual encounters—that are difficult to capture in real-world testing. The Waymo World Model produces high-fidelity outputs across multiple sensor types, including camera and lidar data, allowing engineers to manipulate simulations through simple language prompts and driving inputs. This multi-modal simulation capability helps Waymo explore how its autonomous vehicles respond to extreme conditions and edge cases, enhancing the robustness and safety