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The 20-year journey to fully autonomous cars with Dmitri Dolgov of Waymo, Sonic AI
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The 20-year journey to fully autonomous cars with Dmitri Dolgov of Waymo
A Cheeky Pint
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Mar 24, 2026
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1:02:32
Interview
The 20-year journey to fully autonomous cars with Dmitri Dolgov of Waymo
Dmitri Dolgov
(co-CEO, Waymo, guest)
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Executive Summary
Waymo is operating at significant scale, providing approximately 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week across 11 U.S.
The company's AI strategy involves a sophisticated distillation process, training smaller, efficient on-vehicle "student" models from large, off-board "teacher" models (Driver, Simulator, Critic) that originate from a single foundation model.
Waymo is on the cusp of deploying its sixth-generation system, featuring a custom-designed vehicle and a sensor/compute hardware suite that costs a fraction of the previous generation, enabling more scalable economics.
The transition from the fourth to the fifth-generation driver marked a pivotal, discontinuous jump by making AI the core of the system, which enabled a more generalizable platform and rapid geographic expansion.
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AI Architecture: Foundation Models and Distillation
Generational Hardware and Software Evolution
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Processed May 10, 2026
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