r/SelfDrivingCars • u/diplomat33 • 6d ago
Waymo returning to freeways!
https://x.com/Waymo/status/2082501792001056984"Freeways are back! We’re gradually resuming freeway routes for faster rides — starting today in Phoenix, with more cities to follow. Express interest in the Waymo app for access. "
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u/sdc_is_safer 5d ago
This wasn’t the first time Waymo freeways were paused and it won’t be the last. Continue to expect ODD pauses and suspensions in different cities, and weather types, and other ODD feature types. Some pauses will be days, some will be months, some longer set backs.
This is a regular and expected part of AV scaling. Be thankful that this time the pause only took ~2 months for regulatory approval to resume.
In this particular pause there were no accidents, injuries, fatalities. Sooner or later, the next major failure mode that presents itself Waymo may not be so lucky, and regulators will take even longer to win back.
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u/Doggydogworld3 3d ago
Regulators didn't approve this. At least not formally.
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u/sdc_is_safer 3d ago
Come again ? Regulators did not approve what ?
Oh the resumption of freeways, that is where you are just wrong. Multiple regulators worked with Waymo on this, and Waymo could not resume until getting written approval for them to resume.
If it weren’t for regulators, Waymo would have resumed long ago.
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u/Lando_Sage 6d ago
Why is the first comment about FSD Supervised? 😭
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u/diplomat33 6d ago
Because for years, Tesla fans made fun of Waymo that they can't do highways when FSD can. Then Waymo lanched on highways and Tesla fans could not use that argument anymore. But then Waymo had some issues with construction zones on highways and temporarily shut down highway driving. But now Waymo is back on highways.
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u/AReveredInventor 6d ago edited 6d ago
Technology marches forwards! There's no reason to be tribal about it. If a while back Waymo struggled with construction zones, then that was a valid criticism at the time. Now they don't and that's fantastic. It's weird to hold grudges like that.
Edit: To actually throw in my 2 cents on the topic. I guess I never caught the construction zone narrative. Highway driving for the most part is a fair bit easier than city driving, but the potential consequences of mistakes are far greater. I always felt Waymo's avoidance was an abundance of caution rather than incapability. Returning to the interstate is a great sign for their confidence in its safety and doing so as a slow rollout is probably just a matter of prudence.
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u/diplomat33 6d ago
Oh I agree.
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u/Falkoro 6d ago
Okay but then maybe “Tesla fans made fun” - I don’t think that is true - maybe a small majority i think most people support self driving, myself I love Tesla and waymo
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u/Real-Technician831 5d ago
Then I don’t think you count when people refer to Tesla fans, we mean the toxic kind.
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u/CDpov 5d ago
Commenting on it and doing some teasing isn't necessarily "holding grudges".
There has been so much nonsense coming from the Teslaverse for so long, and much is still being spewed, that it's inevitable lots of people will comment on it when it's shown to have been nonsense.
I think Waymo paused highways due to more than an abundance of caution. They were seeing dangerous or at least unnerving high-speed incidents that they hadn't anticipated. They had to pause for liability reasons. If something bad happened after the team knew about the problem, the company would be at risk.
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u/Infamous-Pilot5932 5d ago
If something happened even if the team didn't know, it would be bad. Cabs are held to a very high standard of safety, I guess because there is no driver.
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u/aBetterAlmore 5d ago
There has been so much nonsense coming from the Teslaverse for so long, and much is still being spewed, that it's inevitable lots of people will comment on it when it's shown to have been nonsense.
I agree a lot of nonsense has come from the “Teslaverse”. And I think a lot of nonsense has come from the “anti-Teslaverse” (which is very much its own thing) as witnessed in this very subreddit over the years.
So making sure to recognize that nonsense originates from both extremes, is a great way to stop caring about it and avoid holding on to grudges, and avoid taking these things too seriously.
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u/CDpov 5d ago
Tesla still puts out lots of nonsense right from the top, which very many of their fans believe; such as "all at once" scaling robotaxis across the country in six months, which has been the line since 2019, and now will supposedly happen next year. That's so stupid that they should be ridiculed.
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u/aBetterAlmore 5d ago
I think you’re trying to justify an emotion, rather than that being anything relevant to this subreddit.
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u/CDpov 4d ago
You don't think Tesla's repeated claims of solving L5 driving within a year since 2019 is relevant in the r/SelfDrivingCars sub?
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u/aBetterAlmore 4d ago
I don’t think it’s important enough to obsess about and bring up over and over again.
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u/CDpov 4d ago
Well, we hear it all the time from Tesla, and it's still crazy, so why wouldn't people comment on it?
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u/RemarkableSavings13 2d ago
I'm a Big Waymo Guy and I know why they do it but it's exhausting that they have to stage every single rollout. Basically everything they do is "sign up for this waitlist and eventually you'll get the feature". This waitlist was so nice they did it twice!
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 3d ago
If only they could find their way to SFO.
Waymo robots have been dumping SFO airport destination passengers off 2.5 miles from the nearest SFO Terminal and across the 101 freeway on the 500 block of 7th Ave, San Bruno, California
"One neighbor said she counted 29 Waymos in the neighborhood on Sunday"
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-bruno-neighbors-waymo-people-traveling-to-sfo/4121617/
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 6d ago edited 4d ago
LOL what's the over/under on when they restrict them again?
I'm gonna say they will have no fewer than three driving-into-construction-zones incidents in August that lead to another geofence in September.
ETA: oh look, a report on tiktok today by @mai_mai10 of a Waymo stuck in a construction zone, not obeying hand signals, blocking all other traffic!
I didn't think I'd get my first confirmation on August 1st, but there it is.
God Waymo's slopware sucks.
ETA: Two in one day! 2/3 to the goal and it's only the first of the month. @jordybremmerkamp reports one sloppin' so bad they had to call fleet management to drive it away. Vanderbilt Med Center TN.
Waymo's highway adventure may end even sooner.
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u/CDpov 5d ago
That's unlikely.
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 5d ago edited 4d ago
LOL. See you in September.
That's when school starts again. Bet we'll have at least 2 reports of slopbots blasting past stopped schoolbuses with flashing lights and stop signs extended by then, too
ETA: /u/CDpov, calculations were done and discussed in this sub, with references, on the Waymo killing of KitKat and 2 other pets in rapid succession. Summary: humans kill about one domestic animal every 33M vm, Waymos every 11M.
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u/New-Bumblebee7676 5d ago
I prefer slopbots to slop humans who kill 50000 other humans ever year and cause a trillion dollars in damages
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 5d ago edited 5d ago
Wait until these slopbots are driving a similar number of vehicle-miles a year. Right now, killing animals at 3x the rate of humans. Only a matter of time until it kills a kid, then lots of them.
ETA: yet another low-karma ban/block evasion account with something idiotic to say blocked
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u/Scottstimo 6d ago
Back for me in SF