Waymo's Double-Duty Computer: Faults?

Waymo's driverless vehicles are equipped with a sophisticated onboard computer system designed to handle potential faults independently. The system operates with two parallel computing engines; if one encounters an issue, the other seamlessly takes over, acting as an immediate backup.

This redundancy is crucial as there is no human driver to intervene. Waymo has incorporated secondary braking and steering hardware, alongside separate power sources for critical systems, ensuring the vehicle can achieve a safe stop if necessary.

Decisions for driving, steering, and braking are processed entirely onboard by Waymo's custom-designed chips. This custom ASIC, delivering over 1,000 TOPS of machine-learning performance, processes vast sensor data rapidly, enabling the vehicle to perceive and react to its environment in milliseconds.

Remote assistance is available for contextual information, but Waymo vehicles do not have remote operators controlling them. The onboard system remains fully responsible for driving, with backups built directly into the vehicle's hardware for immediate fault response.