Waymo will no longer use the term ‘self-driving’ to describe its tech

The next time Waymo talks about its fully autonomous driving technology, you won’t see the Alphabet subsidiary use the term “self-driving.” That’s because the company wants to differentiate the tech it’s working on from the semi-autonomous driver-assistance systems that frequently and incorrectly get grouped under the label.     

“It may seem like a small change, but it’s an important one, because precision in language matters and could save lives,” the company said. “Unfortunately, we see that some automakers use the term ‘self-driving’ in an inaccurate way, giving consumers and the general public a false impression of the capabilities of driver assist (not fully autonomous) technology… Coalescing around standard terminology will not just prevent misunderstanding and confusion, it will also save lives.” In practical terms, one of the first expressions you’ll see come out of this change is Waymo’s rebranded public education campaign, which is now known as Let’s Talk Autonomous Driving.