Waymo, the company that recently spun out from Google?s self-driving-car project, intends to make autonomous vehicles affordable for the masses.
In its push to commercialize its technology, the company built its own in-house sensors, such as radar and lidar, that provide critical information for vehicle operations. By doing so, Waymo CEO John Krafcik said, the company has reduced the cost of these sensors by more than 90 percent.
A single lidar unit, in its formative stages, once cost $75,000, a price that would surely put the cost of an overall vehicle out of reach for most consumers. With a price at a fraction of the cost, autonomous technology could reach more motorists and commercial fleets.
There are no specific plans yet for selling self-driving cars. But while speaking Sunday at the Detroit auto show, Krafcik was flanked by one of the company?s 100 Chrysler Pacifica minivans outfitted with the latest sensor stack, and he said they?ll begin testing them on public roads in California and Arizona by the end of the month. ?What we?re bringing to the market is a self-driving platform that will allow us to deliver products and services that make getting around safe for everyone,? he said. ?That?s why we?re focused so intently on getting the technology right, and getting it to scale and mastering the hardware and software necessary to build a better driver for fully self-driving cars.?

Waymo has opted to build its own radar and lidar, he said, because the company could d...