TechCrunch Mobility: The custom chip driving Waymo’s robotaxi ambitions

Waymo, the self-driving technology company, has unveiled a custom chip designed to enhance the performance of its robotaxi system. The company recently opened its Ojai robotaxi to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, touting that the next-generation vehicle is cheaper to build, operate, and maintain. This new chip, a 5 nm ASIC chip with a computing performance of over 1,000 TOPS, is reportedly more efficient and performs better than Nvidia's DRIVE AGX Thor automotive processor.

The creation of this custom chip indicates that Waymo is becoming more vertically integrated as it aims to turn a profit with its robotaxi ambitions. The chip's development was a collaborative effort involving various tech giants like AMD, Micron, Nvidia, Samsung, Sandisk, Socionext, and TSMC. However, a curious investigation by the Idaho National Laboratory is examining potential security risks associated with Chinese lidar sensors, funded by companies in the EV and autonomous vehicle industries.