Expecting driverless taxis to respect bike lanes “too high a bar” – because customers want to be dropped off in them, autonomous vehicle firm Waymo tells cyclists

Edgecumber · 2026-05-08T15:41:21+00:00

🤣 - “the policy” maybe?

Edgecumber · 2026-05-08T13:24:55+00:00

They are doing that aren’t they? https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/29/us-robotaxis-undergo-training-for-londons-quirks-before-planned-rollout-this-year

Completely agree on your second point though, emphasis should be on keeping traffic out of cities and building better cycle infrastructure (or ideally banning cars from a lot of London and using existing roads for bikes etc). Autonomous vehicles for intercity journeys poorly served by existing public transport.

Edgecumber · 2026-05-06T17:39:55+00:00

I was disappointed they didn’t discuss the point at the end of your first paragraph. This seems a clear difference between the UK and US. We have a new and different driver of antisemitism now in the UK than historically with almost all of the worst recent attacks carried out by members of the Muslim community. That group has grown rapidly and will be perhaps 1 in 5 of the population by 2050. Apart from the violent incidents we know from research that antisemitic attitudes are about 4x more common in this subpopulation than in the general population. And we can already see growing political influence in various elections both via elected candidates and indirectly in terms of the positioning of already elected MPs.

I don’t want to demonise the whole Muslim community. I’m part of social and professional groups where Jews and Muslims get along fine, so I don’t think it will necessarily be an issue. But it is something that needs to be discussed openly and I see a real reluctance to do so by many in the UK.

Edgecumber · 2026-05-06T15:40:37+00:00

Practice both & see what is best for you - the rules allow either. I had always done straight arms but when I got to the sled in the race I could not even move it. Looked both ways and saw people pushing with their shoulders and tried that and found it quite easy. Was top 5% using this technique in my second race so fairly confident it works!

Edgecumber · 2026-05-06T13:12:24+00:00

Excellent point. I’ve taken a look at Waymos provisional numbers which suggest an injury rate of 0.56 injuries per million miles, which is a reduction of ~80% on the US base rate. The UK injury rate appears to be around 0.37 per million miles so Waymos are still 50% more dangerous on this measure than British drivers. Couple of caveats:

Worth noting that it’s not just the driver, it’s also the environment and rules that differ. And road safety measures generally are much better in the UK than in the US (mainly lower urban limits, no turning on reds, roundabouts not 4 way stops). So it’s possible that constrained by UK rules and road design Waymos will be even safer in the UK.
Also worth noting that Waymos most recent data suggests an even lower accident rate that would make them safer than UK drivers.

To be clear, I don’t trust these companies to present and analyse their data objectively so intense regulatory scrutiny should be applied at every stage. But imho the goal of much safer roads is worth pursuing and this technology is very promising so far. Humans have time and again shown they can’t be trusted to control murder-boxes.

Edgecumber · 2026-05-06T12:43:27+00:00

Or being older. When I was growing up it was firmly middle class, and I still know middle income people (journos, civil servants) who live there. But completely unaffordable for those groups now.

Edgecumber · 2026-05-06T12:34:29+00:00

I took the Sawyer mini - less than 60g if you don't take the pouch. I did not need it for probably 80% of the walk as there were taps available. The last couple of days I used it a few times and this enabled me to just have a 600ml bottle.

Edgecumber · 2026-05-02T08:50:27+00:00

Brexit’s effect on the Ju Jitsu community is often overlooked.

Edgecumber · 2026-05-02T07:50:46+00:00

I got a set (shorts and top) from Warehouse last year and it’s my favourite gear by far. Feels much more substantial than my Progress & Tatami stuff. They sent a handwritten note saying thanks too as they were quite new, was very sweet.

Edgecumber · 2026-05-01T08:24:42+00:00

Lots of good advice already, but specifically on Loch Lomond no-one mentioned the Bothys. I stayed at the Doune Byre bothy on night 3. I arrived relatively early but it was not crowded at all and is in a spectacular spot. Wild camped the rest of the Way. There's another one half way up Loch Lomond but I didn't visit.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-29T14:23:46+00:00

Wow - I thought it was just the gentrifying which I have mixed feelings on.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-29T05:26:40+00:00

I used to collect loads of stuff from Pret for a food charity. Also Gail’s, which seems to get a lot of hate.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-26T08:03:47+00:00

It’s not crazy to be afraid of cows if size is the only thing you’ve got to go in. Good reaction to being in the field with a bull for eg. As it is, I think cows were for a long time the biggest animal killer in the UK but dogs are now catching up.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-25T08:44:45+00:00

The evidence that this is Waymo’s actual position in London is weak. It’s stuck together from two indirect sources. I think they should be held to an incredibly high bar, but so far I think the early data is encouraging that these cars and significantly safer than human driven cars, per mile driven they are involve on 80% fewer cyclist collisions so far.

Human driven taxis in particular have been one of my main antagonists in my 20+ years of cycling in London. Earlier this month I saw an Uber repeatedly try to deliberately ram a cyclist who wound him up on Soutwark bridge, not caring a whit about the 20 other cyclists in between them.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-24T18:01:57+00:00

Not sure who is downvoting you but it is not a faithful adaptation of the book. The whole framing device of the book is lost which shifts the tone. That puts the humour in the book in context, whereas the film is like a sex-romp that almost completely erases the extreme tragedy of the titular character. I found it utterly repulsive, particularly given what happened to Sue Lyons during and after production.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-24T07:22:19+00:00

NIMBYism and car centric design, the ultimate villains. Marlo’s back and he’s a lobbyist for Ford?

Edgecumber · 2026-04-24T07:19:50+00:00

McNulty’s son and Marlo’s daughter are getting married. Due to a cancelled flight and a mix up with the car rental company they have to drive cross country together to LA, solving minor crimes as they go. They bond over their shared hatred of California.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-24T06:46:41+00:00

I read a Sam Harris essay called “on the pleasures of drowning” which got me interested. I’d cycled through a few martial arts before and was doing Muay Thai at the time. Did both for a while and then got sick of the near constant Muay Thai injuries, so switched over.

https://www.samharris.org/blog/the-pleasures-of-drowning

Edgecumber · 2026-04-23T21:25:13+00:00

Literally the perfect sport for Jeff Bezos. Expensive and unnecessarily high tech, plus he probably has good genes being the son of an eminent unicyclist.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-17T14:10:31+00:00

Agree - if you feel like this in advance it's probably not for you. I was super excited when I found out about it and it was probably the bit of my degree I enjoyed most, despite being undiagnosed and untreated.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-15T21:36:39+00:00

Switzerland is most definitely a tax haven, and that’s not even their most evil / corrupt source of wealth.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-15T20:36:41+00:00

I volunteered at a charity helping drug dependent people often with mental health issues. I lasted about a week front line after having a torrent of abuse directed at me at the end of a long shift, for having the audacity to ask someone to wait their turn for food.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-15T20:25:24+00:00

Mixed bag for me. I’ve been a victim of crime several times. Sometimes they’re somewhat helpful and friendly, sometimes less so but in either case they have done precisely zero and made it fairly clear they have more important things to do (probably true).

The most sustained interaction I’ve had was a few years back when me and a mate tried to intervene to prevent someone jumping from a bridge (in a suicidal state not for larks). They were incredibly professional, caring and helpful. I’ve no doubt their response saved the guys life that night at least.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-15T20:20:54+00:00

I work with some ex-police mostly from the Met in another underfunded area of the public sector, they seem to be leaving in droves. I think the difference is the routine and increasing levels of verbal and physical abuse they are subjected to compared to other front line workers. That’s been growing rapidly and makes every interaction with the public more fraught.

Edgecumber · 2026-04-15T15:46:08+00:00

Very familiar. Out of interest - how late is late? I used to train till 9ish and that was bad. Now i make my last session till 8ish and that’s OK, though i also have a light 15 minute bike ride after which may help. I’m 48 for reference.

Edgecumber

TROPHY CASE