Reading up on Waymo

Waymo's vulnerability to being blocked by hostile drivers and pedestrians, combined with SF's permissive enforcement, creates a security gap that no remote override can currently address.

Waymo's nationwide expansion of driverless taxis is stalled by political opposition from labor unions and safety concerns in major markets like New York, Illinois, and Washington D.C.

Ajeya Cotra forecasts AI self-sufficiency within 10 years; Timothy B. Lee gives a 50-year median, debating robotics, tacit knowledge, and profit incentives.

Robotaxi services from Waymo and others are expanding across the U.S., but clashes with residents and police are increasing as the autonomous vehicles cause disruptions and traffic jams in cities like Atlanta.

Waymo temporarily suspended service in six cities after videos emerged showing two of its autonomous vehicles stalled on flooded streets in Atlanta.

Google and Waymo rejected human handoffs in self-driving cars because drivers lose situational awareness, a problem Tesla's FSD still suffers from, causing more crashes.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai details the company's turnaround from being blindsided by ChatGPT to achieving AI leadership with Gemini 3, powered by massive infrastructure spending and internal reorganization.

Managing a business with numerous AI agents requires a 'world model' that simulates operations and predicts outcomes, shifting management from direct control to exception handling and simulation.

Passengers trapped in Waymo robotaxis during San Francisco anti-autonomous-vehicle vandalism attacks describe fear and helplessness, highlighting a safety gap in emergency egress design.

Waymo's co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana argues the company's autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers but acknowledges earning public trust remains a difficult challenge.

Tesla began production of its purpose-built Cybercab autonomous vehicle, but faces hard challenges in mastering novel manufacturing and proving its Full-Self Driving software.

Waymo introduces a world model built on DeepMind's Genie 3 that generates photorealistic, controllable simulations with camera and lidar data for training its autonomous driving system.

Waymo expands to the entire SF Bay Area and plans 17 US cities by 2026, but faces regulatory barriers and speed-limit issues despite being vastly safer than human drivers.

Waymo's autonomous ride-hailing service sees adoption by Los Angeles families to manage complex schedules, including shuttling children.

The piece offers 17 predictions for AI in 2026, forecasting continued model improvements but modest economic impact, with no fast takeoff or AI catastrophe expected.

Tesla's stock soars on robotaxi optimism, but experts state the automaker lags far behind Waymo in actual self-driving deployment on roads.

2026 predictions for AI focus shifting to ROI, self-driving breakout, multimodal AI advances, SpaceX IPO, and agentic commerce disrupting incumbents.

Rivian announced RAP1 custom silicon, LiDAR plans for R2, and Universal Hands Free for Gen 2 at its first Autonomy and AI Day.

Surveillance video shows a woman was dragged by a Waymo self-driving taxi after she crouched to rescue a neighborhood cat, revealing a critical sensor blind spot.

Waymo self-driving cars reduce serious injury crashes by 91 percent compared to human drivers, arguing for a shift in transportation policy.

Waymo's self-driving cars are behaving more aggressively, making illegal U-turns and accelerating immediately at green lights like New York cabbies.

Amazon’s Zoox robot taxi launches in San Francisco to challenge Waymo, highlighting both the progress and remaining drawbacks of autonomous ride-hailing services.

Robotaxis and same-hour delivery will shrink the convenience gap between suburbs and cities, potentially ending the urbanist revival and challenging Uber's long-term model.