Waymo autonomous car update: Seeking perfection in an imperfect world
Google began its quest to develop autonomous cars nearly 15 years ago when it decided to participate in the first DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004. DARPA itself has been involved in autonomous vehicle research since 1966. Two years ago, the Google self-driving division morphed into Waymo with expectations that it would become a leading provider of autonomous ride hailing services, a field UBS estimates may be worth nearly $3 trillion a year worldwide by 2030. Based on that projection, it values Waymo at a staggering $175 billion today.