6 ms·

Not surprised. Phoenix is one of those rare and contrived physical locations that doesn't get weather or seasons. No snow, little rain. The road surface and roa

Not surprised. Phoenix is one of those rare and contrived physical locations that doesn't get weather or seasons. No snow, little rain. The road surface and road edges are always visible and never change. People always stay in the clearly visible lanes. It's the perfect place to field semi-autonomous vehicles that can't hack it in normal regions so it looks like they're more capable than they are. If Waymo were launching in Minneapolis I'd be surprised and delighted. But this is just more of the same.

fullshark 1y ago
This post seems to imply this is a trick or false progress. Why not start where it’s feasible/easier as you prove the business model and work out unforeseen issues?
- superkuh 1y ago
  Because they've been doing it SF and Phoenix over and over for the last decade with no progress while saying they were fully autonomous. I guess it's not so much about the companies but the technology itself not actually being capable yet. So they stick to the cheat regions rather than attempting to actually make autonomous vehicles (because that's too difficult, they'd have crash/failures making news). Your argument would definitely apply in 2015. Not so much in 2025.
  - fullshark 1y ago
    This is about a business / vertical launch more so than an autonomous driving breakthrough.
    - superkuh 1y ago
      Ah, yeah, but from that point of view it's not much of a news story and one wonders why anyone cares?
  - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
    No progress? They started doing rides from SFO into the Bay Area this year.
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > they've been doing it SF and Phoenix over and over for the last decade with no progress When were you last in a Waymo? I use them almost exclusively in Phoenix. > they stick to the cheat regions Do you think it doesn’t snow in Atlanta?
    - superkuh 1y ago
      I think that you don't understand snow (real winter) and how it effects vehicles. A dusting of snow that stays on the ground for a day before melting is not an issue. The issue is when the snow keeps the road markings covered for literally weeks or months at a time. When the lanes are not visible to human drivers and they form new flocking based emergent lanes which all humans follow instead of the actual lanes. When the snow piles on the edge of the road change the width from week to week and force parked cars out into the middle of the old lane. Snow is not a problem. Snow that stays is a problem. Atlanta doesn't get snow that stays. Waymo is noticbly absent from Buffalo after their one prior attempt.
      - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
        > you don't understand snow and how it effects vehicles Tell me more about how the 92” of snow my town got last winter leaves me ignorant. > Snow is not a problem. Snow that stays is a problem Snow used to be a problem! It isn’t anymore because it’s solved. My Subaru can keep lane using radar alone, following the car in front of me, in a blizzard. > Waymo is noticbly absent from Buffalo after their one prior attempt They’re also noticeably absent from Chula Vista [1]. Also, I know I don’t understand snow, but maybe the folks in Denver do [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b... [2] https://denverite.com/2025/09/02/denver-waymo-pilot-project-driverless-robo-taxi-2025/ https://denverite.com/2025/09/02/denver-waymo-pilot-project-...
        btmiller 1y ago
        Hey, which town do you live in? I want to know where I should be steering clear of Subarus in the winter ;)
xnx 1y ago
> doesn't get weather or seasons Phoenix just broke rainfall records two days in a row and regularly gets dust storms. Those are both challenging conditions for drivers.
- asdff 1y ago
  And waymo suspended service during that.
  - e44858 1y ago
    Looks like some cars got stuck in a storm a few weeks ago, so they don't seem to be proactively suspending operation during bad weather: https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/waymo-temporarily-suspends-operations-amid-severe-flash-flooding-in-metro-phoenix https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/waymo-temporarily-susp...
asdff 1y ago
They have them in LA but they geolocked all the hilly/narrow/challenging areas from the system.
Natsu 1y ago
It's definitely easier to drive than in many places, but "doesn't get weather" is not quite right when there are significant dust storms every year. But few people even know what haboob means, so I guess they don't know how bad the loss of visibility is during one.
x187463 1y ago
I've seen them in Washington DC which has plenty of traffic and seasons.

fullshark 1y ago

This post seems to imply this is a trick or false progress. Why not start where it’s feasible/easier as you prove the business model and work out unforeseen issues?

superkuh 1y ago
Because they've been doing it SF and Phoenix over and over for the last decade with no progress while saying they were fully autonomous. I guess it's not so much about the companies but the technology itself not actually being capable yet. So they stick to the cheat regions rather than attempting to actually make autonomous vehicles (because that's too difficult, they'd have crash/failures making news). Your argument would definitely apply in 2015. Not so much in 2025.
- fullshark 1y ago
  This is about a business / vertical launch more so than an autonomous driving breakthrough.
  - superkuh 1y ago
    Ah, yeah, but from that point of view it's not much of a news story and one wonders why anyone cares?
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  No progress? They started doing rides from SFO into the Bay Area this year.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > they've been doing it SF and Phoenix over and over for the last decade with no progress When were you last in a Waymo? I use them almost exclusively in Phoenix. > they stick to the cheat regions Do you think it doesn’t snow in Atlanta?
  - superkuh 1y ago
    I think that you don't understand snow (real winter) and how it effects vehicles. A dusting of snow that stays on the ground for a day before melting is not an issue. The issue is when the snow keeps the road markings covered for literally weeks or months at a time. When the lanes are not visible to human drivers and they form new flocking based emergent lanes which all humans follow instead of the actual lanes. When the snow piles on the edge of the road change the width from week to week and force parked cars out into the middle of the old lane. Snow is not a problem. Snow that stays is a problem. Atlanta doesn't get snow that stays. Waymo is noticbly absent from Buffalo after their one prior attempt.
    - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
      > you don't understand snow and how it effects vehicles Tell me more about how the 92” of snow my town got last winter leaves me ignorant. > Snow is not a problem. Snow that stays is a problem Snow used to be a problem! It isn’t anymore because it’s solved. My Subaru can keep lane using radar alone, following the car in front of me, in a blizzard. > Waymo is noticbly absent from Buffalo after their one prior attempt They’re also noticeably absent from Chula Vista [1]. Also, I know I don’t understand snow, but maybe the folks in Denver do [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b... [2] https://denverite.com/2025/09/02/denver-waymo-pilot-project-driverless-robo-taxi-2025/ https://denverite.com/2025/09/02/denver-waymo-pilot-project-...
      - btmiller 1y ago
        Hey, which town do you live in? I want to know where I should be steering clear of Subarus in the winter ;)

xnx 1y ago

> doesn't get weather or seasons Phoenix just broke rainfall records two days in a row and regularly gets dust storms. Those are both challenging conditions for drivers.

asdff 1y ago
And waymo suspended service during that.
- e44858 1y ago
  Looks like some cars got stuck in a storm a few weeks ago, so they don't seem to be proactively suspending operation during bad weather: https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/waymo-temporarily-suspends-operations-amid-severe-flash-flooding-in-metro-phoenix https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/waymo-temporarily-susp...

asdff 1y ago

They have them in LA but they geolocked all the hilly/narrow/challenging areas from the system.

Natsu 1y ago

It's definitely easier to drive than in many places, but "doesn't get weather" is not quite right when there are significant dust storms every year. But few people even know what haboob means, so I guess they don't know how bad the loss of visibility is during one.

x187463 1y ago

I've seen them in Washington DC which has plenty of traffic and seasons.