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Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City

(www.cnbc.com)
597 points achristmascarl | 1 comments | 22 Aug 25 17:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.212s | source
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fsaid ◴[22 Aug 25 18:09 UTC] No.44987720[source]▶
Waymo should add a thin layer of "assertiveness" for actual deadlock that their self-driving architecture could cause.

While in Austin, I was in a Waymo that blocked 3 lanes of incoming traffic while attempting to merge into a lane going into the opposite direction. It was a super unorthodox move, but none of the drivers (even while stopped for a red light) would let the Waymo* merge into their lane.

Thank God for the tinted windows, people were pulling their phones out to record (rightly so). It felt like I was responsible for holding up a major portion of Austin 5 pm traffic on a Friday.

Wish it just asserted itself ever-so-slightly to get itself out.

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1. kjkjadksj ◴[22 Aug 25 18:14 UTC] No.44987783[source]▶
I find that in LA people routinely cut off the waymo or refuse to let it in. After all why not it is a robot, not someone who might legitimately harm you like a road rager. It also tends to fail the cultural left turns. That is, sending 2-3 cars left during yellow not just one like in other places. Seeing it stuck awkwardly in an intersection for another cycle from failing to make an assertive left turn is somewhat common.

Waymo also avoids certain challenging environments by excluding it from its service coverage, namely hilly neighborhoods.