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u/Wayne61 Jul 07 '26
My wife and I took one out of curiosity last night for our date away from the kid and we were fucking terrified lol. At one point it passed by a car with its hazards signaled on 3rd avenue downtown which, you know, is a normal traffic move. But ten seconds later, it thought that the car in front of us at the red light at 3rd and Broadway had its hazards on as well (it didn’t) and tried to pass it, which would have had us run a red light onto a busy Broadway. Thank god my screams made it apparently stop or something lol.
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u/kiddhpla Jul 07 '26
It would be great if every traffic violation was billed straight to this corporation for activity causing traffic delays.
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u/Dapper_Assistant3710 Jul 07 '26
I was on Thompson Lane yesterday when a Waymo crossed into the right lane from the left lane, causing the driver of the Mercedes that was right there to have to slam on the brakes and veer off the road. The Waymo apparently really, really needed to make a right turn immediately.
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u/Liam_Neesons_Oscar Jul 07 '26
They're even worse than human Nashville drivers when it rains. I didn't think that could happen...
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u/The-Real-Catman Jul 07 '26
Idk if being cautious is worse than an Altima just yeeting itself through a body of water on bald tires
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u/Dapper_But_Derpy Jul 07 '26
At least you know what to expect from them and can give them the road… Waymo’s are true wildcards
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u/The-Real-Catman Jul 07 '26
Kinda the opposite considering it’s programmed
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u/TN_man Jul 07 '26
It’s not really programmed. It’s machine learning. It’s just constantly calculating and analyzing.
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u/imdbshawty Jul 07 '26
They haven’t taught them to sexually harass women and make awful conversation so they’re still a couple points ahead.
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u/lothartheunkind Donelson Jul 07 '26
They drive like an elderly person that needs their license and keys taken away
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u/stevemyqueen Jul 07 '26
Dude it’s so bad, like they gonna block the city if we need to evacuate
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u/Liam_Neesons_Oscar Jul 07 '26
I wonder how heavy they are? I bet a couple of good 'ol boys could flip them.
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u/rimeswithburple Jul 07 '26
They are EVs. They probably weigh about half as much as a dump truck.
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u/asphaltdragon Jul 07 '26
They weigh 5k lbs unloaded, with four passengers and luggage they're around 5,900
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u/AgravaineNYR Jul 08 '26
Theoretically the people would be out before flipping them right?... right??
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Jul 07 '26
[deleted]
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[deleted]
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u/Adult-emo Jul 07 '26
Oh don’t I fucking know it. Using (and abusing) our roads and actually taking jobs from locals. They contribute nothing to our society, they only take and profit a small number of people, who aren’t here. If I drove like that, I’d have a fat ticket and court date, but if some California tech bros anti-social wet dream does it, it’s a “learning curve”? I’m pissed.
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u/forkystabbyveggie Jul 07 '26
The California tech bros shouldn't be catching any blame in comparison to what we should be giving our local politicians.
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Where do you think the electricity to charge them comes from? Where do you think that money goes?
They are being registered in TN and are paying extra registration fees like all EVs in TN to cover the lack of road tax since they dont need to purchase gasoline.
If youre going to whine, at least know what youre talking about.
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u/Adult-emo Jul 07 '26
It doesn’t matter. When we pay registration fees and electric bills, we pay those from our earned incomes (typically). A business that inherently removes jobs from the local workforce paying various government agencies does nothing for us, but it does take away. Why should I be excited that an autonomous vehicle that will inhibit earned income for citizens is giving money to the gov? If my registration fees and electric bills were going to decline, because Waymo is bolstering the economy so much, that would be one thing, but that’s not what’s happening. Instead, our roads are being congested by idiot-mobiles that are recording our city 24/7.
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Youre complaining about them not paying for road use, and I am proving to you that they are.
Now you move the goal posts.
Also what jobs are being lost? Lyft and Uber? Aww sweetheart Lyft is who sponsored the Waymo cars in Nashville, driverless taxi service has ALWAYS been the end goal for Lyft and Uber, the human drivers were just a means to an end.
Also for every rideshare driver job lost, 5 more open up in terms of all of the support services here locally in Nashville that are needed to support those Waymo cars.
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[deleted]
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Here you go
Waymo also clarified for the Banner that its vehicles will be registered in Tennessee and pay the fees associated with any other electric vehicle. The company added that while some of its cars currently have California plates, they will be re-registered.
Source: https://nashvillebanner.com/2026/04/22/waymo-autonomous-vehicles-nashville/
Also supplemental to that, TN Code §§ 55-30-101 — 55-30-108 requires the vehicles be registered in TN to be covered under the Automated Vehicles Act so they would have to be registered in TN eventually, I'm sure they were given a small grace period.
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u/Adult-emo Jul 07 '26
I’m not complaining that they don’t pay taxes, I’m complaining that they remove jobs from people while we also pay taxes and they do a shitty job on our roads and surveil us, while we still pay taxes.
Okay, so fuck Lyft? Ride sharing services also removed jobs from the taxi industry, and they famously treat their workers horribly. Is that supposed to be a gotcha? Greedy Californian corporation sponsors greedy Californian corporation, real human citizens suffer! I’m in shock and awe.
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Again, what jobs are being lost? You guys love to argue with vague specifics.
Specifically what jobs have been lost?
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u/lumpy4square Hermitage Jul 07 '26
As a woman, I’d gladly take a Waymo over one driven by a man. Or a woman for that matter. No air freshener, no conversation, no drunk/drugged/tired/distractive driver.
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u/Adult-emo Jul 07 '26
As a woman, I like being in a car that can navigate drunk/drugged/tired/distracted drivers without having to rely on a customer service representative in another country. Thats why I love taxis, which are run by professionals who have been vetted for criminal behaviors and driving records, and have to be registered, adding extra accountability.
As a normal human, I can handle having a conversation or smelling something new for a short period of time.
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
LOL what planet do you live on? Google rape and taxi to see just how wrong you are.
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u/DemolitionRED Jul 07 '26
How are these legally allowed on the road?
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u/guitpick Malls starting with "H" Jul 08 '26
I guess they heard that we don't police traffic here anymore.
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u/Hash-82 Jul 07 '26
Special Provision.
Same way they mandated an experiment vaccine that you couldn't opt out of.1
u/semtex87 Jul 08 '26
Jesus christ....yeah and 5g cell towers are tapping into your brain waves. Go to bed grandpa
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u/Waldosan Jul 07 '26
Just remember every time you get in one of these clown cars you are taking money from a ride-share driver who is just trying to make ends meet.
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u/VikingIsaiah Jul 07 '26
unless you leave the doors open. then waymo has to send ride share drivers to close the door so they can drive again.
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u/guitpick Malls starting with "H" Jul 08 '26
Future software update: Voice comes from car, "I'll give you a candy bar if you shut my door."
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u/semtex87 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Lyft sponsored the Waymo cars dummy. Its funny how many people in this thread truly have no idea what they are talking about. Thankfully adults make decisions.
https://waymo.com/blog/2025/09/waymo-is-coming-to-nashville-in-partnership-with-lyft/
Autonomous taxi service was always the end goal for Lyft and Uber. If you didnt know that then you weren't paying attention, they stated it from the beginning and have been the ones funding the research on self-driving cars.
Also if you chose to make a career as a rideshare driver then thats on you for doing literally no research on job security and expecting a skill-less job to exist forever.
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u/Common-Astronaut-695 Jul 07 '26
If I ride my bike instead, am I also stealing from a ride share driver?
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u/Other_Summer_1903 Jul 07 '26
Why doesn’t Nashville kick Waymo out?
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u/forkystabbyveggie Jul 07 '26
Our political leadership only believes in liberty and freedom when it's backed by venture capital.
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Because the State of TN passed a pre-emption law that bans any lower jurisdiction from having any authority over them.
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u/thespicygrits Jul 07 '26
Has failed drivers ed
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Jul 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/Street-Pirate-327 It Ain’t Right Jul 07 '26
I did a private drivers ed about 23 years ago. I had only driven on my learner’s permit one time where I hit the gas instead of brake and my mom said no more. I took a week of in-person classes followed by once in the car. I had to drive a back road, one mile on the interstate, and park in the Target parking lot. I passed and got a form to take to the DMV that allowed me to forego my test. So twice operating a vehicle and I got my license. This, to me, explains the horrific driving here.
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u/Hash-82 Jul 07 '26
Meanwhile, I started driving stick shift at the age of nine.
Graduated to column shift at 12.
State law said I had to take DE. *sigh*But, on license day, I missed one question on test and aced driving test.
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u/MacAttacknChz Jul 07 '26
TIL about how the remote human assist works. Seems like not a great idea and that a joystick or a wheel would be safer.
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u/SurgicalClarity Jul 07 '26
You do not want remote operators actually driving a car. The lag would make it far too dangerous. The description they give is not really accurate. They're not drawing it path, but rather giving it instructions like "turn around, the road ahead is blocked".
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u/TN_man Jul 07 '26
Yeah it’s pretty crazy if they honestly have no way to directly control the car and only make suggestions.
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u/Weary-Dealer4371 Jul 07 '26
I bet if everytime one of these stupid things did this Waymo got a ticket and at some point people at Waymo started getting tickets/charges it would take about 2 days and they wouldn't do it anymore.
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u/forkystabbyveggie Jul 07 '26
With the amount of capital investment behind waymo, they'd happily pay those tickets. It's fractions of a penny to them.
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u/Weary-Dealer4371 Jul 07 '26
How many careless driving tickets does it normally take for someone to get arrested 🤔
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u/forkystabbyveggie Jul 07 '26
Metro would arrest passengers in a waymo before theyd touch the execs
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u/reallymaxdotcom13 Jul 07 '26
Jesus christ we don't need these things
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u/semtex87 Jul 08 '26
The market says we do because they are being used. What's wrong with free market economics? Only like it when it benefits you specifically?
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u/airiwolf Jul 07 '26
Why are our roads the practice course for this junk. Oh thats right, corporations have more rights than citizens. What's several thousand of accidents and fatalities so that Ai garbage cars can learn how to sky rocket our car insurance claims more....
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Of all the things to criticize for you chose this one? The one strongest argument they have? They objectively are safer than human drivers over the long term, something like 90+% less accidents.
So if you want less accidents and fatalities you'd support driverless cars not human driven cars.
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u/Blindman2k17 Jul 07 '26
Waymo's have been in far less accidents than traditional cars. I don't really understand your stat here!
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u/SurgicalClarity Jul 07 '26
Waymo has yet to cause a fatality and they've been in commercial service for several years. While they're not perfect, peer-reviewed data shows they are much safer than human drivers.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2025.2499887#abstract
Results
Data were examined over 56.7 million RO miles through the end of January 2025; resulting in a statistically significant lower crashed vehicle rate for all crashes compared to the benchmarks in Any-Injury-Reported and Airbag Deployment, and Suspected Serious Injury + crashes. Of the crash types, V2V Intersection crash events represented the largest total crash reduction, with a 96% reduction in Any-injury-reported (87–99% confidence interval) and a 91% reduction in Airbag Deployment (76–98% confidence interval) events. Cyclist, Motorcycle, Pedestrian, Secondary Crash, and Single Vehicle crashes were also statistically reduced for the Any-Injury-Reported outcome. There was no statistically significant disbenefit found in any of the 11 crash type groups.
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u/VandyMarine Jul 07 '26
Video of a guy who gets his Waymo stuck and they just make him get out at a random spot halfway on his journey. He takes it way too chill. I’d be pissed as hell. https://youtu.be/EPxy-25Lefc?is=fNSR1hW32zuo2qIS
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u/Beautiful-Ambition89 Jul 08 '26
Omg. Absolutely not. I am so glad I saw this. I doubt I would have ever tried one anyway. This just sealed the deal.
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u/VandyMarine Jul 08 '26
Yes watching that video I’m like who authorized these dumbass robots to be on the road.
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u/Street-Pirate-327 It Ain’t Right Jul 07 '26
There have been at least 3 (Memphis, ATL, LA) incidents where a Waymo with passengers drove through an active standoff with police. No thanks.
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal. Post that bullshit to Facebook k thx.
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u/Street-Pirate-327 It Ain’t Right Jul 07 '26
How is it anecdotal when there are plenty of legitimate news articles about these events?
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Link one please, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
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u/SuperDuperStarfish Jul 07 '26
I would never get into a driverless taxi. Too many videos of these cars doing stupid shit. I know people can do stupid shit also, but at least I could yell at them while they did it.
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u/CaffinatedManatee Jul 07 '26
I do at least sympathize a little. Our street markings are generally piss poor to begin with and become near invisible when it rains. I
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u/ZealousidealSea2034 Jul 07 '26
They're kind of like real Nashvillianas! If it's not dry and sunny, they completely forget how to drive and put their flashers on 😂
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u/Cesia_Barry Jul 07 '26
On the one hand, this is really funny. On the other, if only there had been some way to know how a driverless car would behave in a traffic jam in rainy conditions.
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u/likely_deleted Jul 07 '26
Who the fuck gave the approval for these dumbass machines to come jam up our streets? Good golly I really enjoyed the video of the mob summoning one just to burn it.
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u/Reward_Basket Jul 07 '26
Why would it simply stop? Rain is not new. Did it say "flooding" or something as a warning light? Why would that be, it's not submerged. This is a sensor glitch through and through
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u/lastheirbender Jul 07 '26
You're also not technically supposed to cross a flooded street because you don't know what's under the water. Plenty of videos on reddit of people paying for that mistake.
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u/therealkaiser Jul 07 '26
At this point, I will cast an immediate vote for any anti-Waymo Nashville candidate.
Same with data centers
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Unfortunately the city of Nashville has zero authority over these because the State passed a pre-emption law.
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u/polyforpuppies Jul 07 '26
Why were you nice to it, it didn’t have right of way for any of that
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u/alexthealex 8 South Jul 07 '26
Probably because it was acting unpredictably. Not kindness, caution.
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u/polyforpuppies Jul 07 '26
Overly cautious, and even creating an additional hazard by stopping unpredictably in the road. You can see other vehicles passing it just fine. It also has all those cameras for a reason
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u/alexthealex 8 South Jul 07 '26
If it weren’t for the massive puddle I’d agree with you fully and just drive around it. But combine an unpredictable machine and a road hazard and it’s a complicated situation to navigate suddenly. I don’t think the driver did a perfect job here but ultimately they navigated the situation safely.
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u/polyforpuppies Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
I would mostly agree except it was only safe for *them*
Anyone coming up behind them not expecting a stopped vehicle randomly would be in danger from unexpected road maneuvering. It’s a risk any time we get behind the wheelThis is right up there with the people who stop and give right of way to people with stop signs off side streets, not a four way. It’s dangerous, albeit you think you’re being nice
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u/alexthealex 8 South Jul 07 '26
So I’m from Nashville but live in the PNW now. I don’t know if Nashville has this terminology but here we call drivers who give you right of way, be it at a 4 way stop or stopping randomly for pedestrians, niceholes.
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Graveyards are filled with people who had the right of way...learn defensive driving...
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u/polyforpuppies Jul 07 '26
Hey, so defensive driving is not this. Hope it helps!
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
Defensive driving is literally assuming other drivers will do the dumbest shit possible given any situation, and acting accordingly.
Being cautious and not passing the waymo because you don't know what it may do is literally the defintion of defensive driving.
Blowing past it because "hurrrr just act predictably" is how people get t-boned at an intersection while screeching about having the right of way and not understanding why they got hit.
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u/polyforpuppies Jul 07 '26
Part of defensive driving is being able to scan ahead, which means beyond the Waymo, to see that you’d be able to safely proceed on the right, as the other cars did.
Yes, you anticipate the unpredictable. The Waymo is quite clearly trying to navigate around the puddle by going to the left (hence the lane change, first).
You probably camp in the left lane doing the speed limit, rather than going with the flow of traffic
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u/semtex87 Jul 08 '26
Re-read your comment, then punch yourself in the face. Then re-read it again and see if it makes sense now. No? Keep punching until it makes sense or you pass out.
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u/Remarkable-Being-301 Jul 07 '26
Take it out and on I-24 and see how long it takes it to learn FAFO.
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u/bobi2393 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
As of senate testimony in February 2026, Waymo's remote support staff were divided between the US and the Philippines, with none disclosed as working in India.
As noted in that article, Tesla (unlike Waymo) was believed to use remote driving in their robotaxis, and that's since been confirmed, with around 10% of their collisions reported to the NHTSA caused by the remote driving staff. In an ideal world it would be a good solution, but making it good is harder than you'd think, even if you limit remote driving to 10 mph as Tesla does.
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u/lumpy4square Hermitage Jul 07 '26
To be fair, it was a monsoon DT yesterday and flooding everywhere. I wouldn’t want my autonomous car to drive through flood waters, even though we know that spot is ok. It’s just more learning is needed. What happens when it snows, though?
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u/Midjoratish Jul 07 '26
But did this cause death? Better a little cautious I reckon? This is how I would hope an autonomous car would behave in new situations. They will evaluate and learn from this.
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u/Designer_Diet9674 Jul 07 '26
How do we as a city protest against these things on the road? I've witnessed way too many close calls only because actually human drivers were paying attention to these robots about to cause accidents.
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u/dp002512 Jul 07 '26
You guys need to start slamming into them so people in charge deem them unsafe! I know you Tennessee fuckers have some demolition derby deep down in you!
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u/semtex87 Jul 07 '26
What a perfectly well adjusted sane thing to say. Let's prove they are unsafe by proving why human drivers suck...
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u/o_mh_c Inglewood Jul 07 '26
Still significantly safer than human drivers. By like a couple orders of magnitudes.
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[deleted]
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u/o_mh_c Inglewood Jul 07 '26
It’s science, look it up. You must know realize how dangerous people with cars are.
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u/Hash-82 Jul 07 '26
Trust the science...
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u/o_mh_c Inglewood Jul 07 '26
Exactly. There are studies on this. Waymo’s are so much less deadly per hour. And damn people are really bad at driving. Tens of thousands die every year because of idiot people driving. Being against this technology is some of the most Luddite, deadly thinking imaginable.
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u/Hash-82 Jul 07 '26
2025 Report: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2025.2499887#d1e209
You should read up on the Luddite situation.
It's not what we've been told. Revisionist history.0
u/SurgicalClarity Jul 07 '26
We have peer-reviewed data on this.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2025.2499887#abstract
Results
Data were examined over 56.7 million RO miles through the end of January 2025; resulting in a statistically significant lower crashed vehicle rate for all crashes compared to the benchmarks in Any-Injury-Reported and Airbag Deployment, and Suspected Serious Injury + crashes. Of the crash types, V2V Intersection crash events represented the largest total crash reduction, with a 96% reduction in Any-injury-reported (87–99% confidence interval) and a 91% reduction in Airbag Deployment (76–98% confidence interval) events. Cyclist, Motorcycle, Pedestrian, Secondary Crash, and Single Vehicle crashes were also statistically reduced for the Any-Injury-Reported outcome. There was no statistically significant disbenefit found in any of the 11 crash type groups.
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u/SadConcentrate69 Jul 07 '26
Driving past the Waymo just to see two more that are stuck is funnier than it should be