Intellibeam

I have ridden in several Waymo cars in Phoenix. Amazing positive experience. They know where every vehicle is around them. And they know where their fellow Waymo vehicles are.
That would be interesting for sure but the thing is that not all vehicles on the road are Waymo . And although they “ talk “ to each other they can’t “ talk “ to the inattentive nearsighted drivers that surround them. ;) I suspect that someday autonomous vehicles will be refined to the point where everything runs smoothly but I doubt it will be anytime soon. It’s not the first technology with great potential that has yet to materialize. Think “ cold fusion “ for example. But when they sort it out it will undoubtedly be transformative.
 
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That would be interesting for sure but the thing is that not all vehicles on the road are Waymo . And although they “ talk “ to each other they can’t “ talk “ to the inattentive nearsighted drivers that surround them. ;) I suspect that someday autonomous vehicles will be refined to the point where everything runs smoothly but I doubt it will be anytime soon. It’s not the first technology with great potential that has yet to materialize. Think “ cold fusion “ for example. But when they sort it out it will undoubtedly be transformative.
They know where the inattentive drivers are too and can react much faster than any human. If there is an accident it would likely be because of the other driver and no human could have avoided it either.
 
Aside from rapidly accelerating to the speed limit to spend as little time as possible with the current customer, and using turn signals to change lanes etc, one incident really stood out for me. We were on a multi lane road with a centre left turn lane. A car approaching us moved into the left turn lane and our Waymo immediately slowed down hard until the turning car came to a stop. Only then did the Waymo proceed. It never had to come to a complete stop but put itself in a position where it could if necessary.
 
Aside from rapidly accelerating to the speed limit to spend as little time as possible with the current customer, and using turn signals to change lanes etc, one incident really stood out for me. We were on a multi lane road with a centre left turn lane. A car approaching us moved into the left turn lane and our Waymo immediately slowed down hard until the turning car came to a stop. Only then did the Waymo proceed. It never had to come to a complete stop but put itself in a position where it could if necessary.
Just saying….
Waymo is currently under federal investigation following reports of nearly two dozen incidents involving its self-driving cars, including 17 crashes and potential traffic violations. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) noted that many incidents involved collisions with stationary objects like parked vehicles and gates, with the automated driving system engaged during these events. Despite these issues, Waymo claims its vehicles have a better safety record than human drivers, citing fewer injury-causing collisions per million miles driven. The investigation reflects ongoing scrutiny of autonomous vehicle safety as Waymo expands its fleet. Not to say that humans don’t run into a lot of things.
 
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