is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
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During a recent all-hands meeting, Waymo’s chief winter weather expert laid it out for all the company’s engineers and product managers: if Waymo wants to expand to new cities and new markets, it’s robotaxis will need to be able to confidently and safely handle the snow.
In its first few years of operation, Waymo has strategically stuck to cities with warmer, drier climates — places like Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. But as it eyes a slate of East Coast cities, including Boston, New York City, and Washington, DC, for the next phase of its expansion, its abilities to handle more adverse weather will become a crucial test.
“Ha ha, good question,” said Robert Chen, the company’s product lead for weather, when I asked him when he hoped to validate the Waymo driver for winter operation. “This winter season is gonna be a really important season for us. I think that’s all I can probably say at this point.”
“This winter season is gonna be a really important season for us. I think that’s all I can probably say at this point.”
There’s an understanding that an inability to tackle winter roads could impede the usefulness of Waymo’s robotaxi service, which could limit its growth into new cities. Other, human-powered ridehailing services drive in all weather conditions. If it wants to compete, Waymo can’t just be a fair weather robotaxi company.
“I think here at Waymo, we really aspired to build this product and the service that people can rely on and use, not just eight or nine or ten months out of the year,” Chen said, “but something that they can really rely on and use whenever they want.”
In some ways, autonomous vehicles are a lot like human drivers: they preform best with good visibility, dry roads, and unobstructed sensors. When roads get icy, and the snow piles up, that’s when things get complicated. Waymo has faced a variety of challenges, from flash floods to Phoenix dust storms known as “haboobs,” but snow is uniquely challenging, he said.
image: Waymo
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