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Waymo's are not about to run a person or bicyclist over. Just walk in front of them and they'll stop for you to cross. You can always start livestreaming if you

Waymo's are not about to run a person or bicyclist over. Just walk in front of them and they'll stop for you to cross. You can always start livestreaming if you don't believe it, the insurance payout would be amazing. (Subject to the laws of physics, naturally.) Source: Haven't been run over yet by one, and I live in one of their current markets.

macintux 9mo ago
Good luck making eye contact with the Waymo to gain confidence that it sees you.
- rogerrogerr 9mo ago
  Do you want them to put googley eyes on it? If you can see it, it can see you. Pretty simple. Eye contact matters for humans because they might be looking at their phones, or their McDonald's fries, or staring straight into the sun. None of these things happen with self-driving cars. It's a non-issue.
  - NewJazz 9mo ago
    That would actually be great. Some kind of eye brow raise, a gesture, any recognition/indication that it perceives a life to preserve.
    - bsder 9mo ago
      Erm, have you ever taken a Waymo and watched the detection screen? If you can see it, it sees you. Period. I guarantee it. It can see and gives special priority to humans. I have watched it mark people at night that I couldn't see at all. Doing weird shit on the road? Certainly possible. Missing seeing a human? Definitely not happening.
      - NewJazz 9mo ago
        Just because someone knows that logically, doesn't mean that it reassures them in the moment.
        macintux 9mo ago
        Especially given the fact that software bugs do happen. If it’s not Waymo, it could be some other half-assed full self driving software package.
  - 1718627440 9mo ago
    Eye contact matters for humans, because humans can indicate that way which direction and speed they plan on moving.
SlinkyOnStairs 9mo ago
> Waymo's are not about to run a person or bicyclist over. This has only introduced more novel problems. People can completely immobilize the vehicles by standing in front of them, or placing a traffic cone. (And while this is kind of funny when done to unused vehicles to bother a multi-trillion dollar corporation. It is not funny when it's done to harass women.) This in turn spirals into a whole new set of political problems, because drivers are collectively quite intolerant of the pedestrians and especially cyclists they share the road with. There is a lot of pedestrian and cyclist behaviour that is curtailed by motorist bullying, which autonomous cars don't really do. (Your walking in front of them being a fine example) Things like cyclists "taking the lane" are deeply unpopular despite being entirely legal and good road safety practice. Increased rollout of AVs will only make this more prevalent and then you'll have a whole new demographic of angry people mad that their waymo is slow because it's behind a cyclist.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- patrick451 9mo ago
  [flagged]
  - NewJazz 9mo ago
    Yeah, the last thing american roads need is vigilante "justice". Like drivers, not all that you see are bad. Although it is very easy to spot and fixate on the bad ones.
- fennecbutt 9mo ago
  >People can completely immobilize the vehicles by standing in front of them This is true of any vehicle lmao. Someone can stand in front of your vehicle and prevent you from proceeding and there's not a thing you can do about it.
  - AngryData 9mo ago
    With an angry human behind the wheel you can't be assured they won't hit you on purpose or even accidentally clip you swerving around you. With a robot car designed to maximize safety, you don't really have to worry. Even if they started making robot taxis drive like assholes, the maximum payout for suing a robo taxi company for getting hit is WAY higher than some rando on the road. The guy you pissed off and ran you over for standing in the road might have just got out from a 15 year prison sentence, hates the world, and have a net worth of -$70,000, and isn't going to earn you anything besides a life long injury.
steve-atx-7600 9mo ago
You can’t expect someone to not be afraid of an autonomous vehicle that appears to be acting irrationally.

macintux 9mo ago

Good luck making eye contact with the Waymo to gain confidence that it sees you.

rogerrogerr 9mo ago
Do you want them to put googley eyes on it? If you can see it, it can see you. Pretty simple. Eye contact matters for humans because they might be looking at their phones, or their McDonald's fries, or staring straight into the sun. None of these things happen with self-driving cars. It's a non-issue.
- NewJazz 9mo ago
  That would actually be great. Some kind of eye brow raise, a gesture, any recognition/indication that it perceives a life to preserve.
  - bsder 9mo ago
    Erm, have you ever taken a Waymo and watched the detection screen? If you can see it, it sees you. Period. I guarantee it. It can see and gives special priority to humans. I have watched it mark people at night that I couldn't see at all. Doing weird shit on the road? Certainly possible. Missing seeing a human? Definitely not happening.
    - NewJazz 9mo ago
      Just because someone knows that logically, doesn't mean that it reassures them in the moment.
      - macintux 9mo ago
        Especially given the fact that software bugs do happen. If it’s not Waymo, it could be some other half-assed full self driving software package.
- 1718627440 9mo ago
  Eye contact matters for humans, because humans can indicate that way which direction and speed they plan on moving.

SlinkyOnStairs 9mo ago

> Waymo's are not about to run a person or bicyclist over. This has only introduced more novel problems. People can completely immobilize the vehicles by standing in front of them, or placing a traffic cone. (And while this is kind of funny when done to unused vehicles to bother a multi-trillion dollar corporation. It is not funny when it's done to harass women.) This in turn spirals into a whole new set of political problems, because drivers are collectively quite intolerant of the pedestrians and especially cyclists they share the road with. There is a lot of pedestrian and cyclist behaviour that is curtailed by motorist bullying, which autonomous cars don't really do. (Your walking in front of them being a fine example) Things like cyclists "taking the lane" are deeply unpopular despite being entirely legal and good road safety practice. Increased rollout of AVs will only make this more prevalent and then you'll have a whole new demographic of angry people mad that their waymo is slow because it's behind a cyclist.

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
patrick451 9mo ago
[flagged]
- NewJazz 9mo ago
  Yeah, the last thing american roads need is vigilante "justice". Like drivers, not all that you see are bad. Although it is very easy to spot and fixate on the bad ones.
fennecbutt 9mo ago
>People can completely immobilize the vehicles by standing in front of them This is true of any vehicle lmao. Someone can stand in front of your vehicle and prevent you from proceeding and there's not a thing you can do about it.
- AngryData 9mo ago
  With an angry human behind the wheel you can't be assured they won't hit you on purpose or even accidentally clip you swerving around you. With a robot car designed to maximize safety, you don't really have to worry. Even if they started making robot taxis drive like assholes, the maximum payout for suing a robo taxi company for getting hit is WAY higher than some rando on the road. The guy you pissed off and ran you over for standing in the road might have just got out from a 15 year prison sentence, hates the world, and have a net worth of -$70,000, and isn't going to earn you anything besides a life long injury.

steve-atx-7600 9mo ago

You can’t expect someone to not be afraid of an autonomous vehicle that appears to be acting irrationally.