Waymo

[Tam]

Eventually yes but right now they are just testing the autonomous trucks up and down I-45.

Did anyone hear about the May accident on I-45N near Ennis, TX?

Behind the scenes of Waymo’s worst automated truck crash

A Waymo Via truck operating in autonomous mode with a human safety operator behind the wheel on I-45 in Texas when a passing truck entered its lane.

techcrunch.com

Waymo was running at 62 MPH but I think the speed limit over there is 75 MPH. Maybe there was road rage and another truck forced Waymo off the road. The police called it a hit-and-run.

Photo: techcrunch.com

What is interesting is: "Waymo told TechCrunch that the safety operator did not take control of the truck from its autonomous system."

If the human safety driver didn't take over the control during this accident, it looks like the autonomous system did a good job in getting hit with only minor damage to its side LIDAR.

 

[diplomat33]

Did anyone hear about the May accident on I-45N near Ennis, TX?

Behind the scenes of Waymo’s worst automated truck crash

A Waymo Via truck operating in autonomous mode with a human safety operator behind the wheel on I-45 in Texas when a passing truck entered its lane.

techcrunch.com

Waymo was running at 62 MPH but I think the speed limit over there is 75 MPH. Maybe there was road rage and another truck forced Waymo off the road. The police called it a hit-and-run.

Photo: techcrunch.com

What is interesting is: "Waymo told TechCrunch that the safety operator did not take control of the truck from its autonomous system."

If the human safety driver didn't take over the control during this accident, it looks like the autonomous system did a good job in getting hit with only minor damage to its side LIDAR.

I was not aware of this accident. Thanks for sharing.

I guess the silver lining is that the Waymo tech was not at-fault for causing an accident. Was the hit and run the result of the human driver dozing off or a deliberate road rage incident? Maybe the road rage was because the human driver felt the Waymo was going too slow or maybe it was resentful over a feeling that autonomous trucks will take their jobs?

Sadly, I suspect we could see more hit and run road rage incidents. People in trucking will feel threatened by autonomous trucking taking their jobs. Also with robotaxis, people might resent robotaxis taking their jobs or just don't like autonomous cars on the road.

 

[diplomat33]

Apparently Waymo was in a single vehicle accident last night. Details are sketchy at this point:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1544252435220144128

The only damage that I can see is to the windshield and we know there was no collision with another vehicle. Maybe something hit the windshield of the Waymo?

 

[Dewg]

I was not aware of this accident. Thanks for sharing.

I guess the silver lining is that the Waymo tech was not at-fault for causing an accident. Was the hit and run the result of the human driver dozing off or a deliberate road rage incident? Maybe the road rage was because the human driver felt the Waymo was going too slow or maybe it was resentful over a feeling that autonomous trucks will take their jobs?

Sadly, I suspect we could see more hit and run road rage incidents. People in trucking will feel threatened by autonomous trucking taking their jobs. Also with robotaxis, people might resent robotaxis taking their jobs or just don't like autonomous cars on the road.

People fear change. And we're changing fast. The majority were still riding horses and carriages just 120 years ago, and now we have machines that drive us around with no one at the controls.

 

[Daniel in SD]

The majority were still riding horses

The original full self-driving.

 

[Bitdepth]

Apparently Waymo was in a single vehicle accident last night. Details are sketchy at this point:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1544252435220144128

The only damage that I can see is to the windshield and we know there was no collision with another vehicle. Maybe something hit the windshield of the Waymo?

Looks like someone threw something at the Waymo.

 

[diplomat33]

Looks like someone threw something at the Waymo.

That's what I think too. Someone threw an object at the Waymo that broke the windshield and injured the safety driver. it seems to fit the facts. We know the Waymo did not hit another vehicle or person and the only damage is to the windshield. Unless we get more details that say otherwise, I would chalk this up to either a freak accident or deliberate attack against the Waymo.

 

[Doggydogworld]

Did anyone hear about the May accident on I-45N near Ennis, TX?

Behind the scenes of Waymo’s worst automated truck crash

A Waymo Via truck operating in autonomous mode with a human safety operator behind the wheel on I-45 in Texas when a passing truck entered its lane.

techcrunch.com

Waymo was running at 62 MPH but I think the speed limit over there is 75 MPH. Maybe there was road rage and another truck forced Waymo off the road. The police called it a hit-and-run.

Photo: techcrunch.com

What is interesting is: "Waymo told TechCrunch that the safety operator did not take control of the truck from its autonomous system."

If the human safety driver didn't take over the control during this accident, it looks like the autonomous system did a good job in getting hit with only minor damage to its side LIDAR.

I knew of this one but had not seen a pic from this angle. Truck speed limit on TX highways is generally 70 mph day/65 mph night. 62 mph is a bit slow. Road rage would be stupid with all those cameras, but I guess rage is illogical by definition.

 

[diplomat33]

We have confirmation that the single vehicle incident that Waymo was in, was an attack by an "erratic" pedestrian:

According to the company, a Waymo vehicle was traveling down the street in autonomous mode at 3AM on July 5th when a pedestrian ran out in front of it. The safety driver saw the pedestrian and switched the vehicle into manual mode, bringing it to a full stop before the person leaped onto the hood. The person, whom Waymo spokesperson Nick Smith described as “erratic” then punctured the windshield, injuring the driver.

Waymo autonomous vehicle attacked by an “erratic” pedestrian in Arizona

The incident took place in Tempe, Arizona.

www.theverge.com

 

[Dewg]

We have confirmation that the single vehicle incident that Waymo was in, was an attack by an "erratic" pedestrian:

Waymo autonomous vehicle attacked by an “erratic” pedestrian in Arizona

The incident took place in Tempe, Arizona.

www.theverge.com

Wow - people be crazy. I'm glad the driver stopped the car - I wonder what would have happened if there was no safety driver to switch to manual mode and stop the vehicle. All we can do is guess.

 

[Supcom]

Wow - people be crazy. I'm glad the driver stopped the car - I wonder what would have happened if there was no safety driver to switch to manual mode and stop the vehicle. All we can do is guess.

I expect that the car would have stopped on its own. But, the safety driver reacted instinctively.

I wonder how the Waymo prediction function dealt with that. Does the car sense people who intend to attack?

 

[diplomat33]

Wow - people be crazy. I'm glad the driver stopped the car - I wonder what would have happened if there was no safety driver to switch to manual mode and stop the vehicle. All we can do is guess.

Given the car has 360 degree sensors and a computer that can respond in milliseconds, I think it is likely the Waymo Driver could have stopped in time. I don't think any of the sensors were damaged, so the car would have been able to continue in autonomous mode. My guess is that the Waymo would have stopped on its own and then tried to keep driving when the path was clear. But, I think this is a situation where "remote assistance" might need to help the Waymo car.

My concern is what happens if it is a driverless ride with passengers. Presumably, the car would be locked to prevent the erratic pedestrian from getting in but that would be very scary for passengers.

Like you said, people will be crazy. It happened at 3AM on July 5th, so my guess is that the pedestrian was super drunk or stoned. It's impossible to prevent all of these attacks. But I do wonder what Waymo will do in response to this situation.

 

[Dewg]

Given the car has 360 degree sensors and a computer that can respond in milliseconds, I think it is likely the Waymo Driver could have stopped in time. I don't think any of the sensors were damaged, so the car would have been able to continue in autonomous mode. My guess is that the Waymo would have stopped on its own and then tried to keep driving when the path was clear. But, I think this is a situation where "remote assistance" might need to help the Waymo car.

My concern is what happens if it is a driverless ride with passengers. Presumably, the car would be locked to prevent the erratic pedestrian from getting in but that would be very scary for passengers.

Like you said, people will be crazy. It happened at 3AM on July 5th, so my guess is that the pedestrian was super drunk or stoned. It's impossible to prevent all of these attacks. But I do wonder what Waymo will do in response to this situation.

Will we see continued aggression towards ADS vehicles as time goes on? There's already been discussion of ADS trucks threatening truck drivers' jobs. There were reports a year or so ago about people messing with Teslas by pulling in front of them and brake checking them in an effort to mess with their safety scores or cause them to overreact on AP. Aren't humans awesome?

 

[diplomat33]

Will we see continued aggression towards ADS vehicles as time goes on? There's already been discussion of ADS trucks threatening truck drivers' jobs. There were reports a year or so ago about people messing with Teslas by pulling in front of them and brake checking them in an effort to mess with their safety scores or cause them to overreact on AP. Aren't humans awesome?

Sadly, I think we will see more of these attacks. Humans can be total jerks. And humans can be fearful and irrational about new tech they don't understand.

 

[diplomat33]

Slightly off topic, but if humans are attacking AVs, imagine what they will do to humanoid robots like the Tesla Bot "Optimus". It is a safe bet will see reports of people trying to trip up Optimus or throwing stuff at it.

 

[Dewg]

Slightly off topic, but if humans are attacking AVs, imagine what they will do to humanoid robots like the Tesla Bot "Optimus". It is a safe bet will see reports of people trying to trip up Optimus or throwing stuff at it.

There is a very sad article about an experiment started in Canada with a hitchhiking robot. The summary is that Americans are a-holes.

HitchBOT, the hitchhiking robot, gets beheaded in Philadelphia | CNN

This is why we can't have nice hitchhiking robots.

www.cnn.com

 

[Supcom]

Will we see continued aggression towards ADS vehicles as time goes on? There's already been discussion of ADS trucks threatening truck drivers' jobs. There were reports a year or so ago about people messing with Teslas by pulling in front of them and brake checking them in an effort to mess with their safety scores or cause them to overreact on AP. Aren't humans awesome?

Teamsters have a long history of pacifism.

 

[diplomat33]

A mob surrounded a Waymo last night and jumped on the hood, dancing on the roof, and writing on the windshield.

 

[willow_hiller]

A mob surrounded a Waymo last night and jumped on the hood, dancing on the roof, and writing on the windshield.

Really convenient that criminals these days record themselves in the act. Makes pressing charges later much easier!

 

[Dewg]

A mob surrounded a Waymo last night and jumped on the hood, dancing on the roof, and writing on the windshield.

I swear it wasn't me!