GOOG Alphabet Inc

By Tim Higgins 

DETROIT -- Waymo LLC, the self-driving car unit of Alphabet Inc., has created its own sensor package, suggesting the tech company sees itself supplying both the software and hardware required for autonomous vehicles.

The announcement on Sunday at the beginning of the North American International Auto Show here gives the clearest window yet into how Waymo may put its self-driving car project into auto makers' fleets. Bundling the sensors with the software required for self-driving technology would create an all-in-one package, allowing a car company to plug the technology into its vehicles without having to invest in its development.

"This is a big step in making this technology affordable and more accessible to millions of people," John Krafcik, head of Waymo and former head of Hyundai in the U.S., said in a speech. Waymo didn't detail how it might rollout sensor system.

Waymo has said it doesn't want to build its own cars. Instead, it sees opportunities to put its artificial-intelligence-powered technology to work in ride hailing, logistics, public transportation and personal transportation, including licensing it to auto makers for use in their vehicles.

The revelation comes as traditional auto makers -- unnerved by companies such as Waymo, which until last month was known as the Google self-driving project, Uber Technologies Inc. and Silicon Valley-upstart Tesla Motors Inc. -- rush toward self-imposed deadlines to bring self-driving cars to market in the next three to four years. Suppliers such as Delphi Automotive PLC have been rushing to create their full package.

One impediment to the development of autonomous vehicles has been the high cost of sensors. In 2009, when the then-Google project began, Waymo says a single lidar -- a radarlike device that uses lasers to give a computer a three-dimensional view of the world -- cost about $75,000. The Waymo development brings the cost down about 90%, according to the company. Several other suppliers are rushing to develop lower priced and more compact versions.

The Waymo hardware package includes a continuous 360-degree-view radar, eight vision modules and three different types of Waymo-built lidars. It includes two new types of lidar sensors, including for short range aimed at seeing small people and objects.

The Waymo hardware is included in the Chrysler Pacifica minivans being shown Sunday and that will be on the road in Arizona and California later this month as part of Waymo's continued testing, which has reached almost 2.5 million miles in the past eight years. The rate of when the automated system disengages per thousand miles traveled fell to 0.2 in 2016 from 0.8 in 2015 in California, according to Waymo on Sunday.

"All of our sensors are deeply integrated with the brain of our self-driving cars, our new AI-compute platform," said Mr. Krafcik. "Our self-driving software combined with this Waymo hardware suite is our most advanced self-driving system to date, capable of true autonomy."

The company aims to have driven a total 3 million miles by May as it increases the testing on top of the simulated miles it is accumulating.

Alphabet last month made Waymo a stand-alone business unit, a sign of the potential it sees in its self-driving technology -- and that the effort will soon be expected to generate revenue.

Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 08, 2017 17:09 ET (22:09 GMT)

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