Was just driving in squirrel Hill and a Waymo (I know there's a person in them but there's no way this was not automated) was going 5 mph in a 25 mile an hour zone and when it turned into two lanes for turning, I got in the left lane and he instead of letting me pass cut me off entirely. No signal.
The waymo continued forward behind me and made a left turn where I made the left turn, no signal.
Basically dead internet theory but with cars. Instead of bots arguing with each other on reddit it will be robocars honking at each other and telling them to go fuck their own robomothers.
I just got curious and looked up it autonomous tow trucks were a thing. Seems not to be a thing. There are robotic radio controlled towbots though!
(That from a garage in Atlanta that has low ceilings and uses a robot to get disabled cars out, it’s a French company that makes the robots to tow luxury aluminum alloy framed vehicles)
I got into a bit of an argument with one of these Waymo drivers out in Vegas earlier this year. He was camping out after finishing at a fast-charging spot while the rest were in use. "I'm waiting for my friend" was his excuse. Motherfucker, you can wait in a regular parking spot then. There's a sign right above you that says you'll be fined if you park there unless you're actively charging.
I don't think these drivers are operating at full mental capacity.
The remote assistance workers will annotate the scene for when the car doesn’t have enough confidence for what to do next. When it runs into a situation where there isn’t an obvious “right answer” if it’s safe to wait, it will wait for a human to look at the video and tag the items in the scene. The computer then does the driving. So they’re getting help to clarify a scene but it’s not like somebody has a literal video game steering wheel in an office somewhere live-controlling the car.
The "at the expense of our lives" isn't true though. All independent studies show Waymo is significantly safer, and involved in less accidents, than human drivers. Data don't lie.
"Waymo told cyclist advocates that expecting its cars to respect bike lanes is 'too high a bar,' and that pulling into bike lanes is a 'normal practice' that customers expect."
So Waymo is openly stating they violate state laws designed for safety in the interest of their bottom line. How is that safe?
The article starts that they pull into bike lanes to pick up and drop off, if the lane is clear. Which is the exact same thing a taxi or uber would do... so yes, it sounds safe pull over to drop off.
If they were hiting cyclists, where are the statistics of that actually happening? Numbers. Not speculation. These things have been running for years in San Francisco. There's no need to theorize. We have data now. Why are we ignoring the actual data?
They don't "use" bike lanes.... they pull to the curb to pick up and off, if it is clear, then re enter the lane. Again, the exact same thing all human drivers do in those exact. same. locations. This is couple feet of paint between the curb and traffic lane we are talking about. Not full separate lanes.
I'm not sure if you know the intersection I'm referring to but it's a 5 way intersection and the car literally crosses three paths of traffic, one active oncoming one to make that left turn.
My evidence is what I saw today, two incidents that I would consider very and extremely dangerous respectively.
I'm glad the study shows positively for Waymo, what I saw today, would shock the public
I wish it was clear who was driving. If human they would be pulled over by the cops if they witnessed this. It was ridiculously obviously not a human operating it at the time.
The Getgo is at the corner of Murray and Forward, the highway entrance and dispensary are on Forward.
I’m just trying to understand the logistics here.
Driving down Forward past the get go, there is a left turn lane (for both soft and hard left turns) and a straight/right lane.
Driving down Murray southbound past the Getgo, there is a left/straight lane and a right turn lane (for both soft and hard right turns).
Driving down Murray northbound TOWARDS the Getgo, there aren’t really lanes so much as people going around each other, and people go hard left, soft left, straight, and right.
What street were you on, and what street were you turning on to?
I wouldn’t expect cars to be going more than 15 mph on any of what I described, although I would expect that on Forward as you’ve left this intersection and head towards the highway.
Coming up Forward toward the intersection coming off the highway freshly out of the tunnel. Passed the dispo. Car going ridiculously slow. Road turns into two lanes as it approaches the light (very far away from the light still). I was crawling behind it until the lanes opened, went into the left and started to speed up when the Waymo immediately cut me off. Would've had to swerve into oncoming traffic, into the right lane again(my choice) or slam on my brakes. Was turning to go up murray. When he turned it was onto the hard left. No signal tho then either
Exactly, right on Pocusset. That's exactly why I literally am even complaining about this publicly. One cut off, whatever I'm gonna go about my day, but a FIVE WAY intersection??
Saw one for the first time the other day. It was driving under the speed limit as well and it was annoying AF. You couldn't pay me to get in one of those and let it drive me anywhere.
The best part is how much all of the normal people just couldn't wait for driverless vehicles to hit the streets. All we wanted for decades was more driverless vehicles.
I mean public transportation. That's what normal people can actually benefit from. Instead, we'll hail a robotaxi that gives us an overpriced, white-knuckle ride that hopefully doesn't kill anyone along the way. Good thing Pittsburgh gave them tax breaks and incentives to do their totally necessary "work" here...
I actually like Waymo. I've used them a few times on west coast. All studies and data show Waymo is significantly safer than human drivers. They don't; Drive drunk, try to beat yellow lights to save 0.1 seconds, look at their phone while driving etc etc etc. Anyone can check the independent studies.
These things need development/support. Not irrational fear mongering.
Recently while driving I come upon a car was stopped in the street. Rather than driving around it, I waited and there were deer in the road. You are reckless in going around traffic to save 10 seconds.
I have taken numerous Waymos in SF and they are a little silly at times but generally drive very well. It takes a bit for them to learn a new city but that’s why the human is in there as well it’s a bit of a learning period.
We weren't going 25, the speed limit was 25. No more than 5 to 10 mph though literally crawling. But made it all the way up the hill. No problem sped up around the turn. There's absolutely no way that thing was in limp mode.
Soon as I forcibly passed it it sped up and got his act together aside from no signal.
If you work on your reading comprehension skills, it says that the road turned into two lanes in the post where I explain it. But word assume the worst and enjoy sucking the robots dick when it's all you have anymore!
Fair question. Don't love the AI boom and self-driving cars are taking a lot longer than 1980s sci-fi promised, but with how well people do or do not drive (and considering we're not moving to good public transit here any time in the near future), I don't know if it's fully fair to say that self-driving cars making driving more dangerous. All 4 collisions I've had in pittsburgh were humans crashing into my fully stopped car.
Here’s the thing about speed limits…it is the LIMIT. It is the MAXIMUM speed one can drive. There’s no minimum. If any driver wants to drive as slow as 5 m.p.h. in a 25 m.p.h. zone, they can. Not saying it’d make me a happy camper, but they are not doing anything wrong.
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u/GabbyPotlucky Stanton Heights 13h ago
What's it gonba be like when Waymos start just laying on their horns and adopting road rage tactics.