Google’s Waymo took the lead in the self-driving robotaxi race with over 3 million driverless rides across three cities this year. We could see autonomous Teslas in 2025 and Amazon’s Zoox is opening up to customers in early 2025. OK, this made me laugh: A confused cop trying to pull over a car with no one in the driver’s seat.
Robot cars, human-size problems
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Robotaxis are silently (and sometimes awkwardly) roaming around Phoenix, San Francisco, Austin and wherever else humans dare let cars do improv in traffic. Waymo, Tesla and soon Amazon want you to ghost your Uber driver and jump headfirst into a future with no one behind the wheel.
Tempting? Sure. But should you? Well…
🧠 Waymo: sensor show-off
Waymo is Google’s souped-up baby Jaguar. And it’s not just cute. It’s packing serious hardware: GPS, radar, lidar and 29 cameras. You’d think it could see into next Tuesday.
In Phoenix, you can summon one with no driver. The doors unlock, you hop in, and off you go. Well, mostly.
Regulators have flagged 22 “incidents” ranging from boo-boos with barriers to cases of being directionally defeated by construction cones. One time, two women were straight-up trapped inside a car when the doors wouldn’t open. (Waymo Escape Room: now accepting reservations.)
Let’s not forget the recall: More than 1,200 vehicles were pulled after collisions with stationary objects.
Still, here’s the twist: Waymo’s crash rate is up to 80% lower than human drivers when it comes to injury-causing accidents. It’s safer, just not graceful. Think: clumsy nurse with steady hands.
⚡ Tesla: risk-taker
Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” robotaxis skip the radar, skip the lidar and go camera-only. It’s kind of like teaching your car to drive by binge-watching dashcam videos.
In Austin, they’re testing 10 driverless Teslas with remote watchers instead of safety drivers. They need to. There’s a video of one in Austin having a brain-fart moment when seeing cops on the side of the road.
FSD recently failed to stop for a child-size dummy next to a school bus … eight times. One drove onto train tracks. And yes, there’s at least one fatal pedestrian crash under federal investigation. I love innovation, but I’m not about to trust my life to a car that still needs a hall monitor.
Why I never use Waymo
Wonder what it’s really like to ride in a self-driving car? There’s one recent story that might make you hold off.
Watt is love? Baby don’t Hertz me: Tesla’s wheeling out its long-hyped robotaxis in Austin, starting with 10 cars and ramping to a thousand, basically a product experiment with bumpers. Musk says they’ll “geofence” the cars into safer areas. Everyone’s watching, especially Waymo.
Passengers in an Arizona Waymo autonomous vehicle get a scare
🧘 Coping skills needed: An Arizona mom and daughter thought the self-driving Waymo vehicle they were in might crash while crossing multiple lanes. They made it through, with mom panicking and her daughter cracking up in the backseat. Waymo’s response? The vehicle kept a “safe distance.” Watch the video and see what you think.
The FTC bans fake online reviews
Using bots to boost social media followers and influence is off the table, too. Disney+ adds Hulu shows, sparking parental outrage. Plus, Waymo horror stories, Facebook rental scams, and tips for your next mechanic visit. And Earl from Chicago needs wedding help for his daughter.
Waymo nightmares
San Francisco is fed up with Waymo’s driverless cars causing chaos, and they’re planning to expand to cities nationwide. Don’t think it’s just their problem — your town could be next.
Police pull over a Waymo driving on the wrong side of the road
Waymo says the vehicle was confused by construction signs and stayed in the oncoming lane for 30 seconds because “it was blocked from navigating back into the correct lane.” Luckily, no one was hurt.
Want to drive? First, you must subscribe
Automakers say car subscriptions could earn them $1,600 a year. Plus, news on the Kaiser Permanente health breach, phony Verizon invoice emails, and a Waymo going haywire in San Fran.