Waymo has just announced a new fifth-generation of its autonomous vehicles, and while some of the details are not new (like Waymo using all-electric Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, announced two years ago), there is a lot of fresh detail.

In a blog post, Waymo runs through:

The new and updated Lidar, vision, and Radar systems used on the new Jaguars, which will number as many as 20,000

And details features like the system being able to spot a car door opening a city block away, "peek" around blind spots, and more.

It doesn't give too much away, but touches on the main new points of competence.

Wired peels back what’s new on the hardware, noting:

“A closer look reveals a bigger shift offering hints about the future of autonomous vehicles. The two rooftop lidars […] have been compressed into one unit that can handle both medium- and long-range sensing.

The perimeter lidars near the wheels have been joined by “perimeter cameras.” A lidar and camera sit on the grille, where you’d normally see Jaguar’s roaring cat logo.”

The work was done in-house by Waymo, with advantages like the sensors can now collect useful data from more than 500 meters out, and can see through (and survive) in nasty weather.

“We wanted this generation to be much more scalable and manufacturable and reduce the costs of the system by half,” Satish Jeyachandran, Waymo’s hardware lead, told Wired.

“I'm super confident that we are pretty close to achieving all of these metrics.”

What it all means:

There’s been a string of Waymo news recently, including the fresh cash injection that’s gone into the company.

Yet autonomous driving is still nowhere near fruition in daily lives. Yes, normal highway driving looks close to solved, but anyone who’s driven Tesla Autopilot will note it can’t do everything.

Waymo is taking the cautious approach, with Lidar, while Tesla (read: Elon Musk) is betting self-driving cars need only cameras, basic radar, and ultrasonics plus computing power and machine-learning to perform as well as or better than a human.

Round Up:

Twitter starts testing ‘Fleets,’ its take on Instagram stories or Snapchat snaps: Fleets can't be retweeted, don't have "likes," and responses show up as direct messages to the original tweeter, not in public (Daily Dot). I gotta say Fleets is a great name for a new ephemeral content form.

Google Assistant can read entire web pages to you aloud, available today on Android (Android Authority).

Confirmed: The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is a nightmare to repair (Android Authority).

Galaxy Buds Plus most repairable wireless earbuds out there, put AirPods Pro to shame (Android Authority).

Apple reportedly warns stores of iPhone replacement shortages: “replacement iPhones will be in low supply for up to two to four weeks” (Engadget).

Apple now lets apps send ads in push notifications (The Verge).

Apple and Netflix pull out of SXSW appearances (The Verge).

Google Stadia news: Google hires Sony’s Shannon Studstill to run Stadia Games and Entertainment studio in LA, and 4K gameplay now available on the web (Venture Beat).

The latest James Bond movie has been postponed (@007, Twitter).

Everything you need to know about Coronavirus vaccines (Wired).

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Alleged Vault 7 leaker trial finale: Want to know the CIA's password for its top-secret hacking tools? 123ABCdef (The Register).

Ex-Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski ordered to pay Google $179m. Levandowski filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (TechCrunch).

Astra came close to achieving what DARPA has sought for two decades (Ars Technica).

Hinge will pay you $100 to get off your phone and go on a date - with caveats (Mashable).

Part two of an exposé on one of London's biggest Airbnb schemes: “Airbnb suspended scores of dodgy property listings in London. And then things got really messy” (Wired).

🧱 Scientists create bendable concrete that could better withstand earthquakes (Engadget).

In its first use inside the human body, scientists use CRISPR as a blindness therapy - results in a month (STAT).

“We are a team of medical experts following COVID-19's progression closely. Ask Us Anything” (r/askscience).

🦇 Throwback Thursday

Oh sure, Waymo has a new car. But look, a new Batmobile!

Batman has a new ride for Gotham’s mean streets. And wow, it isn't much like the sleek, overt tanks of other movies, but something like a futuristic muscle car or hot rod. It’s a little more subtle, sort of?

Director Matt Reeves shared the images on Twitter and it adds to the feeling of the new Batman film that it’s going to be quite different.

As one comment said, it’s got a combination of “normal people couldn’t have this” and “thrown together as a prototype” that ‘The Batman’ is feeling.

Does it drive autonomously, though?

'The Batman' is set for a June 2021 movie release.

Safe driving,