Waymo built a virtual driver to study how humans react to surprises on the road

The Verge Wednesday 10 June 2026, 09:00 UTC By Andrew J. Hawkins 1 min read

Key Points

Waymo has a lot of experience building virtual systems to help its autonomous vehicles better understand the real world. It built realistic 3D worlds to better anticipate natural disasters and unpredictable edge cases. It created a virtual representation of a hyperattentive driver to test against its own autonomous vehicles in a series of simulated scenarios to see which is better at crash avoidance.

Now, in a new research paper published today in Nature Communications, Waymo describes a new computer-based cognitive model that explains how human drivers make split-second decisions to avoid crashes. The company thinks the new model will serv …

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Waymo (ORG) Nature Communications (ORG)

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