Waymo’s Self-Driving Cars Spark Frustration in San Francisco

Residents of San Francisco are expressing their annoyance at Waymo’s self-driving cars, which have recently adopted a more aggressive driving style reminiscent of “New York taxi drivers.” Reports indicate that these vehicles are now zigzagging through tunnels and weaving around other cars at an alarming rate.

Last month, police in San Bruno, just outside San Francisco, pulled over a Waymo vehicle after noticing it made an illegal U-turn. This incident signals the company’s shift to reprogram its cars to drive with more “confidence and assertiveness.”

As officers approached the vehicle, a Waymo operator began communicating with them, as detailed by a publication.

“They said they would investigate,” remarked Sgt. Scott Smith-Matungol, adding that the officers appeared quite apologetic.

Chris Ludwick, Waymo’s senior director of product management at Alphabet, explained that the decision to make the vehicles more assertive was driven by concerns that overly cautious driving was creating traffic disruptions on the already busy streets of San Francisco.

“We really needed this to scale, especially since the traffic here is so dense,” he said.

Some users of the service have noted a distinct change in how the cars operate. For instance, Jennifer Jeffries from Pacific Heights has logged close to 3,000 minutes with Waymo and mentioned that her self-driving car now behaves similarly to an Uber driver, often getting closer to other vehicles than she would expect.

“They circle around and get much closer than a human would,” she observed, recalling moments where she felt uneasy in the backseat, thinking, “Wow, that was really close.”

However, this newfound driving style hasn’t sat well with everyone. Mark Schreiber, a pedestrian, voiced his discomfort, saying he began to quicken his pace in crosswalks whenever a Waymo car passed. “It was unexpected,” he noted, reflecting on how the driving behaviors changed.

Ludwick insisted that Waymo’s vehicles are designed to adhere to traffic regulations, claiming they’ve driven over 100 million miles in various cities, achieving a 91% reduction in serious accidents compared to human drivers.

Yet, there are mixed feelings among residents. Cossette Drossler, a Pacific Heights accountant, mentioned hearing about Waymos doing a “California stop,” where a driver slows but doesn’t fully stop at a sign. While he doesn’t mind some leniency on quieter streets, he questioned whether the vehicles can accurately assess safety.

“I might do a rolling stop myself, but only if it’s safe,” he said, recalling his upbringing in San Francisco.

Waymo’s safety record is under scrutiny, with increasing attention from regulators over a range of incidents, including reports of vehicles approaching stopped school buses with stop signals activated. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched several investigations, with some focusing on unexpected driving behaviors and collisions.

Waymo has faced recalls related to software defects, which were linked to crashes involving different obstacles. The company has been involved in various types of collisions, and while there has been at least one fatal incident, investigators concluded that the vehicle was not malfunctioning.

Currently, Waymo provides rides to paying passengers in several major U.S. cities, including Phoenix and San Francisco, and plans to expand its fully autonomous operations to additional locations like Miami by 2026. They are also conducting tests in numerous other cities, albeit without carrying passengers just yet.