The hostility towards self driving is so baffling to me. Setting aside the question of which company is going to get there first, it seems patently obvious that self driving is clearly the safer future for drivers and pedestrians. after all, self driving cars are getting better, and human drivers are not.
That said it's not guaranteed that the version we get will be without drawbacks, and imo we should be trying to shape a better version of the future by passing regulations now before unwanted behaviors calcify. Stuff like limiting how many empty miles cars are allowed to drive so that ppl don't just circle their cars around the block to avoid paying for parking, or regulating how long security updates need to be supported to keep insecure cars off the roads.
The backdrop is driving for Uber/Lyft/Doordash/etc is the only job out there for a lot of people, and taking that away leaves them high and dry. You can say it's not Waymo's responsibility to give them jobs and provide for their needs, and you'd be right, but then, on a societal scale, who's is it? Without an entity who's responsible for that, it's easy to see hostility against self-driving cars as a symptom of that. Who's going to pay to put food on the table if I don't and can't find a job? On a personal level, yes, that's my problem, but it's not a problem that everyone out there is equipped to solve on their own.
The hostility towards self driving is so baffling to me. Setting aside the question of which company is going to get there first, it seems patently obvious that self driving is clearly the safer future for drivers and pedestrians. after all, self driving cars are getting better, and human drivers are not.
That said it's not guaranteed that the version we get will be without drawbacks, and imo we should be trying to shape a better version of the future by passing regulations now before unwanted behaviors calcify. Stuff like limiting how many empty miles cars are allowed to drive so that ppl don't just circle their cars around the block to avoid paying for parking, or regulating how long security updates need to be supported to keep insecure cars off the roads.
The backdrop is driving for Uber/Lyft/Doordash/etc is the only job out there for a lot of people, and taking that away leaves them high and dry. You can say it's not Waymo's responsibility to give them jobs and provide for their needs, and you'd be right, but then, on a societal scale, who's is it? Without an entity who's responsible for that, it's easy to see hostility against self-driving cars as a symptom of that. Who's going to pay to put food on the table if I don't and can't find a job? On a personal level, yes, that's my problem, but it's not a problem that everyone out there is equipped to solve on their own.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/24/us/waymo-robot-taxis-blin...
What are those blind Waymo users going to do when a car ends up stuck in a flooded roadway?
> What are those blind Waymo users going to do when a car ends up stuck in a flooded roadway?
Same thing anyone should. Get help.
I think they would most likely end up calling 911. I hope that Waymos only drive in locations with cellphone signal.
Nice native ad for Waymo