πšƒπšŠπš›πšŠπšœ π™Άπš›πšŽπšœπšŒπš˜πšŽ πŸš‡Dec 21

This is your city on driverless cars.

A blackout in San Francisco yesterday cut power to traffic lights. Drivers coped; Waymos just stopped moving, often in intersections, stranding passengers and compounding gridlock.

https://sfstandard.com/2025/12/20/waymo-sf-blackout-robotaxi-traffic-jams/

Show threadπšƒπšŠπš›πšŠπšœ π™Άπš›πšŽπšœπšŒπš˜πšŽ πŸš‡Dec 21
Maybe allowing a private company to flood public space with a massive fleet of unmanned vehicles isn't great transportation policy. (Especially when shit happens. And shit *always* happens.)
Show threadπšƒπšŠπš›πšŠπšœ π™Άπš›πšŽπšœπšŒπš˜πšŽ πŸš‡Dec 21
On the other hand, we could just let the "disruptors" do exactly what they want. That usually works out fine.
Show threadπšƒπšŠπš›πšŠπšœ π™Άπš›πšŽπšœπšŒπš˜πšŽ πŸš‡Dec 21

The fact that driverless cars kill + injure fewer people than conventional cars is a genuine plus.

It doesn't outweigh minus of private companies flooding public streets with constantly cruising vehicles that periodically cause gridlock, chaos.

Here's one Waymo messing up dozens of people's day.

There should be zero tolerance for interfering with public transport like this. Any sane community would recognize this as indefensible.

Show threadLillyLyle/Count MelancholiaDec 21
@straphanger If you're stuck inside one of these things, are you able to get out?
Show threadSu_GDec 21
@LillyHerself @straphanger
I’d like to know that too!πŸ€” Also, can they be pushed out of the way by a couple of people (like you would do if your actual car broke down in the middle of the road).
If you can’t do either of those things how do they even pass a safety assessment & get allowed on public roads full of people? πŸ€”
Show threadLillyLyle/Count Melancholia

@Su_G There ought to be some kind of 'manual override' panel, perhaps on the outside, that would allow some level of navigation.

@straphanger

Dec 21 at 10:30pmWeb
Show threadSu_GDec 22
@LillyHerself
Yes, good idea. Someone else suggested the Waymos have a rope or chain at the front so they can be towed out of the way.
People getting stuck in them would be worse though, the people must be able to get out.
Hard to believe these things weren’t tested before they were allowed out in public.
@straphanger
Show threadIgnazio PalmisanoDec 22
@Su_G @LillyHerself @straphanger I find it believable, considering the other variants of self drive are allowed around with a much worse track record. Not acceptable, but believable.
Show threadWesDymDec 29
@ignaziop1977 What versions are those? I hope you're not talking about Tesler, because despite their BS marketing, they don't have anything like that, and probably never will.
Show threadIgnazio PalmisanoDec 29
@wesdym I was thinking uber. The swastikars aren't going around by themselves but people inside think they can and have ended up dead a couple of times.
Show threadWesDymDec 29

@ignaziop1977 Much more than a couple. Tesler in fact holds the all-time record for fatalities, of any car ever made by anyone in any country. They're horrible death machines, by any metric you choose. It's only an extremely corrupt government that allows them to keep being made and sold.

Past a certain point (a few years ago, I'd say), people who buy them just HAVE to be stupid. They can't really have any excuse.

Show threadIgnazio PalmisanoDec 29
@wesdym yeah two is just what I remember from the news