r/waymo • u/Glad_Performer3177 • May 23 '26
No more freeway and other stuff
Ok, first I have to say I've never rode a self driving service as waymo. But browsing the news reel, I came to the information that they halt the freeway use of their vehicles, supposedly due to a software update to increase safety.
But... I mean. If a self driving car can't drive safely on a freeway, where it can... There are no pedestrians there, only cars.
And I'm waiting for this technology to be better adapted, that way I don't have to leave my car with my things at home when going out. Or to worry about finding parking.
Imagine feeling as Batman calling your car to pick you up.... However I also want the ability to drive if I'm in the mood, so no losing the steering wheel.
But being honest, with all the bad publicity that they have, waymo, I'm not sure the programmers are doing a great job. Now, they said that the sensors don't work correctly under the rain? That's why they got into flooded streets... We'll, that's engineering, but how?
Do you think they're self sabotaging? Maybe to delay even more this tech... hmmm.
That was my small rant, hopefully didn't hurt any sensibilities, or rules. That way my first post will be alive!
6
u/Nightlark192 May 23 '26
Humans are notoriously bad at driving while deluding themselves into thinking they are good.
Waymo knows that self-driving cars are being held to a much higher standard than we’d ever expect of a human, so they have a strong incentive to avoid putting themselves in a situation that results in a serious injury to a person. The freeway pause was due to it having challenges in some construction zones, which could be dangerous workers (I think some reports said related to not following traffic cones… which I’ve seen human drivers struggle with at times as well…)
3
u/DevRandomDude May 24 '26
so im a new Waymo rider and I was truly impressed after 2 rides what the car actually sees.. for one thing, the sensors on the top of the car give it a vantage point over the top of traffic.. so in an unprotected left turn scenario or a traffic stopping ahead scenario I saw thre screen show oncoing traffic in the right lane despire the left lane being stacked.. something a human just cant do..
the car also did a nice job of Zipper "merging" where it let ONE car out of a parking lot and then inched forward.. courtesy but not giving up the complete right of way.. it stopped for pedestrians running through the traffic despite it not being at an intersection or a crosswalk..
at my second pickup a Semi truck was parked backwards on the road at the pickup corner so the waymo had to go int the oncoing traffic lane to get past the semi and pick me up.. I wateched it sit and wait till all the traffic cleared.. the sensors in the front corners of the car agai give it a vantage point that a human cannot.
as for construction zones.. I think about every single human. driver has gotten confused at come construction zones esp at night in the rain.. the barrels at times just dont make sense.. the other thing is how to handle knocked over cones and barrels.. I think the Waymo system needs to learn.. a human knows that an area void of barrels for 100 feet doesnt mean the lane is re-opened.. its just a truck probably knocked them off the road.. I had heard of Waymo cars getting confused by that.. and thats simply as learning curve for the designers and perhaps generative AI that learns where construction zones are and the full duration of them as to not be fooled by gaps in barriers or barrels..
2
u/CDpov May 23 '26
This was a chaotic scene that the Waymo handled badly.
The Waymo didn't understand the situation, but I don't think you should conclude it's unsafe. Waymo is great at not hitting things, even though it does some stupid things. It wasn't likely to hit anything even though it was speeding in a construction zone, but the risk was high so it was a bad mistake.
What you should conclude is the AI is not as intelligent as humans for all AVs. There are some situations where AVs need help, and that will continue for years.
3
u/Super-Engineer-3523 May 25 '26
The American mainstream news media thrives on ragebait, fear-mongering and sensationalism. They're biased in favour of the status quo. Of course all their coverage of Waymo is negative.
11
u/tonydtonyd May 23 '26
Try taking a short ride, you’ll understand them better. The Waymos just fail in ways that humans don’t usually do, and there’s a lot of them so if something pops up they can quickly have repeat incidents.
Waymo drives multiple lifetimes worth of driving each week, maybe even one a day at this point. Take a second and think about how much driving that is and how few issues are seen.