Waymo's new AI can imagine tornadoes, elephants for self-driving cars
Waymo just dropped the Waymo World Model, a smart new AI that builds super-realistic 3D driving scenarios using Google DeepMind's Genie 3.
Announced in February 2026, it lets engineers test out all sorts of wild situations—think tornadoes or elephants in the road—without waiting for real life to catch up.
The tool can envision situations that haven't happened yet
Unlike older models that only learn from past driving data, this tool can imagine brand-new situations that cars haven't seen before.
It builds on Waymo's nearly 200 million driverless miles and helps prep their self-driving cars for rare and long-tail scenarios and could aid expansion to about a dozen US cities.
The tech could help robotaxis navigate rare events
With better training for rare or weird events, Waymo says its robotaxi trips could be safer and smoother in uncommon scenarios.
This tech is a big step toward making driverless rides more reliable (and less stressful) in more places.