Some of us were much more gullible back then. It was in the 2017 era than Google/Waymo executives were saying things like “Fully driverless rides on public roads starting immediately in Chandler, AZ; commercial service “launching soon.”“ “Fully self-driving cars… are just around the corner,” with paid public rides imminent.
Back then we had a higher opinion of Google and didn’t realize this was just vaporware like so many other companies in the computer business.
I’ll be honest. I was expecting the steam roller gag from Austin Powers.
I see a couple of Waymos a week, I’d guess. They’re always driving so normally, you’d never know they were driverless. I was crossing the street a couple of weeks ago on my morning walk, and I’d already waved the one right-turning vehicle to go ahead as I wasn’t quite at the corner yet. But it was a school bus, and I wasn’t able to see the Waymo behind it until the bus turned. The Waymo waited for me and didn’t try to follow the bus like a lot of human drivers sometimes do (!) but it got me thinking. Could I wave the Waymo to make its turn before I crossed? Would it notice and understand the gesture?
On the negative side, there was an hysterical post on our NextDoor about a Waymo that ran over a cat that was sleeping in the middle of the street in Venice.
I was expecting to see Kevin Kline slowly run over by a steam roller.
FSD 14.0 has been delayed but only to Monday supposedly because a bug needed to be fixed. It is supposed to be followed in short order by 14.1 and 14.2. Musk claims that 14.2 will feel “sentient”.
https://www.investors.com/news/tesla-fsd-v14-release-coming-monday-elon-musk-says/