I was only in San Francisco for a few hours and yet I managed to have an "encounter" with a Waymo.
I don't mean "I saw a Waymo"--they were all over the place, you can't miss them--I mean *encounter* as in the thing swerved into my lane...
1/n
I've been saying for years that self-driving technology isn't ready, it will not *be* ready for a long-ass time, and there's almost no way to trust the tech companies to accurately *tell us* when/if it is ready. Not when there's billions to be made.
Beyond that...
2/n
The problem with self-driving technology isn't even *primarily* "safety" but the *shift in liability*, meaning the liability is tossed in a black hole. This is the *prime function* of a lot of tech (including genAI), but esp self-driving--a story is told that it's "safer than humans"...
3/n
...but the tech companies bury the data, they're *incentivized* to make wild unsubstantiated claims (because no one ever calls them on it), and in the end, no tech CEO is going to jail because a Waymo murdered someone. At worst, they lose stock options.
So I have some pretty strong opinions...
4/n
You could be forgiven for thinking "Sure, Sue, you're in SF for 2 hours and a Waymo jumps in front of you? Are you sure?"
I was just as surprised as you. I mean, what are the odds...
...but this is also my point. The "odds" are pretty shitty actually we just don't know because *data burial*
5/n
WHAT HAPPENED: Waymo was stopped in the left hand lane (one-way street) while a car parallel parked in front of it. I was coming up on this situation in the next lane, to the right of the Waymo. The Waymo waited until the car was 3/4 parked, decided ig that was close enough...
6/n
The Waymo suddenly swerved into my lane to go around the not-yet-done-parallel-parking car. I didn't have to SLAM on the brakes (which is good because I had cars behind me), but there was substantial sudden braking required on my part.
Waymo rolled on without any hesitation or apparent notice
7/n
@susankayequinn looks like there's some "tuning" going on https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/waymo-robotaxis-driving-like-humans-20354066.php, which they will hopefully get in trouble for.
As for the liability, Uber has a similarly effective solution that doesn't require $30b (and counting) of investment: it stops with the driver-contractor. They do provide additional insurance, but they usually can't be sued themselves AFAICT.
