In the announcement of the first round of investment at Waymo, it was almost lost that the photos provided also show new sensor setups. The Waymo Dome at both Waymo One and Waymo Via are completely new. Although Waymo had announced some time ago to finish the now 5th generation of its hardware, here are apparently the first pictures of it.
A striking feature of the Waymo One Dome is that an LED display, which prominently displays the Waymo logo, now appears to be integrated into the self-developed LiDAR. Below the logo there are two circles, at least the one on the right seems to be a camera. The left one could also be one, or something else, maybe a thermal camera? In total, eight such pairs seem to be arranged underneath the LiDAR. In the larger box below, there are radars visible at the corners, as well as other cameras that seem to be different and may have different tasks. The main box max probably contain processors and cooling systems for the heat dissipation of the electronics.
This 5th generation of Waymo’s Dome looks much more compact than anything Waymo had before. And the Dome is mostly black. Here is a selection of earlier versions.
The Dome is also completely new for the semi truck. You can also see the LED logo on the LiDAR, cameras that are arranged vertically here, and a yellow light bar above the windshield. Also at the rearview mirrors arranged on the side of the bonnet you can see small LiDARs, maybe the next generation of Honeycomb-LiDARs? Again, the entire dome is black.
We appreciate any hints, which sensors we are seeing here.
This article was also posted in German.
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