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Waymo’s sixth-generation autonomous fleet has fewer sensors ‘without compromising safety’

Alphabet’s Waymo unveiled its sixth-generation Driver system on Monday with a more efficient sensor setup. Despite dropping the camera and LiDAR sensor counts, its new setup allegedly lowers costs while maintaining safety redundancies.

The Zeekr-built sixth-gen fleet is reportedly better for accessibility, including a lower step, higher ceiling and more legroom — with roughly the same overall footprint as the Jaguar-based lineup. Waymo says the new system has a modular aspect, allowing it to “swap out various sensing components to match the specific conditions of each operating environment,” like more stringent sensor cleaning for vehicles in colder cities. The company says the sixth-gen Driver performs reliably even in extreme heat, fog, rain and hail, thanks to “regular road trips to newer cities.” That makes sense, given that its currently approved cities are all in relatively clear and dry climates.

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