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This is your city on robotaxis. On Dec. 20, a blackout in San Francisco cut power to traffic lights. Drivers coped; Waymos just stopped moving, often in intersections, stranding passengers and compounding gridlock. Some people claim they’re safer… 🧵

8/1/26, 8:59 pm12 reposts26 likes

Taras Grescoe 🚇

@taras-grescoe.com

8 Jan

As @davidzipper.bsky.social notes, Waymos have driven 127 million miles, and been involved in 2 fatalities. That's twice the rate of human-driven cars. And they have yet to deploy at scale. Their glitches often interfere with public transit.

AGTMADCAT 🇺🇳

@agtmadcat.bsky.social

Isn't "involved with" doing a lot of work here? A motorcycle rear ending a Waymo that had stopped for a pedestrian seems unfair to blame on the Waymo! Likewise getting rear ended while totally stopped for traffic - these are very much human-caused accidents.

John Berry

@aniccia.bsky.social

"involved with" does not blame anyone and is the standard term used to describe this as well as the basis for most traffic safety stats in the USA. Many ADS & ADAS have had recalls for getting rear ended while stopped in traffic. Phantom braking is a common vehicle automation defect.

AGTMADCAT 🇺🇳

@agtmadcat.bsky.social

If you look up these two specific incidents they are pretty clear-cut, nothing to do with phantom braking.

Taras Grescoe 🚇

@taras-grescoe.com

8 Jan

I take a look at the hope, the hype, and the realities of what happens when cities are flooded with robotaxis in this week's HIGH SPEED dispatch: www.highspeed.blog/waymo-trouble/

David Bickford

@exit2lef.bsky.social

8 Jan

My folding bike and I took a Waymo ride yesterday afternoon due to rain and a tight appointment schedule. The car stopped for pedestrians at an unmarked crosswalk, something few human drivers ever do. While not a panacea, autonomous vehicles are generally kinder to users of non-automotive transport.

Nancy M

@nancym1.bsky.social

You know what works really well? Transit. Especially trains.