[maxerickson]

I wonder if Waymo is dependent on their hyper detailed maps of if they are using them to speed up development of their systems.

With a hyper detailed map, you can automatically score your vision/world modeling system (because the static elements are known).

Without a detailed map, the scoring is much harder.

[sien]

Would that allow the creation of a profitable MVP?

It's not 'general level 5' but it might be a transport system in cities with appropriate conditions that have been mapped.

Then it gets gradually expanded out to other cities.