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Yeah, the commercial ventures are all trying to do autonomous driving on a budget. The military systems work a whole lot better but that's because they pack way more sensors and way more compute power and can essentially power through issues like rain, snow, sandstorms, etc.

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I didn't know this. Why the commercial cars are allowed in civilian traffic when they aren't the best systems? Is it too much to ask Waymo to have the latest and greatest when I put my kids in the robot car to take them to school? Because I learned as an Uber/Lyft driver that is something people do. I had to refuse it was against the rules to take unaccompanied minors.

The commercial systems are designed for the environments where they are supposed to work and no more. The parent said that the military vehicles can handle sand or snow. Neither of those are present in SF and the bay area in general. Waymo and the other companies are only going to deploy to climates that they have solved and in the background try to solve more operating environments.

I was told by the Waymo trainer that Lidar doesn't work in the rain. It certainly rains here.

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