Waymo Minivan Becomes Confused And Can't Figure How To Merge Into Traffic

First, let’s get that collision out of the way. According to ABC15, a Honda Civic travelling eastbound on Chandler Boulevard in Chandler, Arizona (a few miles southeast of Tempe) swerved hard left to avoid a vehicle that darted out in front of it from a side street. Given the Civic’s speed and the fact its rear end slid out, the sedan carried on over the median and into the westbound lanes, striking the oncoming Waymo vehicle.

Waymo quickly released a video proving that its minivan was merely an innocent bystander in all of this. Given the way the accident unfolded, it’s unlikely a human driver could have done anything to prevent the collision. Sometimes, you’re just out of luck. Moving on…

Five days before that Waymo mishap, a much more benign incident occurred involving a Waymo vehicle. This time, however, it’s a failure that only results in frustration for the occupant(s), and maybe a little lost time.

 

MDarringer - 5/7/2018 10:53:06 PM

-1 Boost

The video is pretty amusing but not unlike drivers I deal with every day.

t_bone - 5/8/2018 10:43:45 PM

+1 Boost

Good video and point. An effective self-driving vehicle will have to be aggressive to deal with traffic. But who wants to actually see that, or be driven by it?

SanJoseDriver - 5/20/2018 7:38:13 PM

+1 Boost

I guess better to take the exit than risk an accident by being too aggressive. BTW, MobileEye has developed a super aggressive self-driving algorithm for countries like Israel where you HAVE to drive aggressive in order to get anywhere. That includes going over lines a reacting to whether or not other cars let you overtake them.