Besides convenience, one of the main benefits of self-driving cars is supposed to be safety.

Yet in a bizarre move, Waymo — whose self-driving cabs had been enjoying extraordinary safety metrics — has just taken steps to make its robotaxis more human-like, eroding the safety narrative that’s been central to the autonomous vehicle narrative.

Recent reporting by The Wall Street Journal observed a startling change in Waymos’ road etiquette, a new aggressive streak that would make a BMW driver blush. These include illegal U-turns, aggressive lane switching, rolling through cross walks, and running red lights.

  • karashta@piefed.social
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    6 days ago

    This is the stupid shit I get instead of actual public transport and infrastructure. What a dumb timeline.

    • melfie@lemy.lol
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      6 days ago

      But that would only benefit the majority of the populace instead of making a few disgustingly wealthy men even wealthier.

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    In a “Our cars are faster” move?

    These include illegal U-turns, aggressive lane switching, rolling through cross walks, and running red lights.

    They like fines?

    • thallamabond@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Oh, they do not have to pay ‘fines’

      However, if the car is driverless, there is likely no punishment.

      According to the Atlanta Police Standard Operating Procedure, they are told not to issue citations to driverless vehicles.

      The standards read in part:

      “The court system is currently unable to process traffic citations for AVs with no human operator. If the vehicle violates a traffic law, where a citation would be warranted, the officer must write a report providing the details surrounding the incident and the law that was violated.”

    • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
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      6 days ago

      I guess they want to pay them all in one lump sum once a year, cash in a black briefcase…

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    If this was an Onion article, the headline would have been “Waymo cars will now go through each hit pedestrian multiple times”.

  • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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    6 days ago

    Yikes. I was just in SF for work. One of the things I liked best about wayno as a pedestrian is that you could confidently step out into the road in front of them and they would always slam their breaks so hard it never hit you, and the occupants would be all pissed about it

    • dirthawker0@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I’ve ridden in Waymos in SF a few times and I liked the fact that they drive like a granny. If they’re changing programming I won’t want to ride.