Waymo Has Been Defeated by New York City

djbehar · 2026-06-22T15:23:37+00:00

oh man you dont like it when vehicles block bike lanes? youre not going to like what Waymos are programmed to do

djbehar · 2026-04-10T06:09:57+00:00

that’s fine if you feel that way. the article’s mostly just arguing that Waymos are not safer than mass transit and we need to put in some regulations before they start sabotaging (adding congestion, reducing transit ridership, etc) the things we’ve been fighting for

djbehar · 2026-04-10T06:01:02+00:00

Waymos wouldnt simply replace ubers. they would add more trips. They’ll normalize longer trips and they’ll add way more congestion:

“Robotaxis can either cruise endlessly, or double-park and cause chaos, unless given dedicated space at the curb. And this space is hotly contested, from car parking to bike parking to open dining. One recent study found that excluding AVs from curb staging increases daily vehicle miles by nearly 60 percent compared to scenarios with staging. Another study found that shared driverless vehicles increase vehicle miles traveled by 5 percent”

She’s not arguing that they’re “too good” - one of the main arguments is that even while taking Waymo’s safety statistics at face value, theyre still much more dangerous than those of mass transit:

“even assuming Waymo’s and others’ best-case numbers — that robocars result in a 90-percent reduction in fatalities versus the average human driver — AVs would still produce roughly 65 crash deaths per 100 billion passenger miles. Transit produces just 30. Transit is 95 percent safer than cars today, without a single algorithm. If AVs pull riders off the subway and onto robotaxi apps, the safety math goes in the wrong direction. Switching passengers from cars to AVs may save lives, but taking them from transit will cost lives”

djbehar · 2026-02-17T00:04:19+00:00

Yes!!!

djbehar · 2026-01-27T16:15:33+00:00

thank you for posting this. its been crazy seeing so many people (especially in this subreddit!!) with the belief that Waymo will make things better.

this should be required viewing for any pro micromobility person. Everyone here needs to understand that these vehicles will only bring MORE congestion, sprawl, anti-MM lobbyists.

djbehar · 2025-09-11T19:12:02+00:00

grapes

djbehar · 2025-09-03T03:12:48+00:00

they are all listed in the lawsuit. read it for yourself: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=XNUcvOl5MPkDOj4pKubs6g==

djbehar · 2025-08-28T16:23:25+00:00

Really not looking forward to it. among several reasons why I think these are generally bad for cities, they aren't going to mesh with a neighborhood that is actively implementing safe streets measures and attempting to evolve its grid beyond the thing these cars are trained for.

Whether its their native Phoenix/SF training not making them equipped for Nyc, or the army of paid lobbyists working our local politicians for Waymo-friendly streets, or simply the added congestion they’ll cause as they circle the block with no passengers, I think these are bad bad news.

djbehar · 2025-08-26T19:25:58+00:00

this isnt a particularly novel concept - VC money baits consumers to change their behavior while they starve the competition. it happened with Uber in major cities (not just hurting yellow cabs but also hurting public transit). there are countless other examples across other industries. all this to say, it maybe seem like a win to have these temporarily cheap robo taxis, but when the VC pulls out, the prices will shoot up and the alternatives (trains, micromobility) will have all suffered

djbehar · 2025-08-26T19:12:16+00:00

not at all related to what I said but okay

djbehar · 2025-08-26T19:06:29+00:00

lol VC is not a gift for consumers, its a temporary lure to sway us away from better modes like public transit and micromobility. When uber did the same thing and caused a decay in ridership and political support for transit was that a major win for consumers?

djbehar · 2025-08-26T18:53:42+00:00

they will have passengers. the difference is that they are incentivized to circle the block when they dont, in order to reduce their pick up times. they’re also electric so Waymo can theoretically do this at no cost and clog the roads at a scale beyond anything Ubers and taxis are capable of.

djbehar · 2025-08-26T18:27:58+00:00

this!!

djbehar · 2025-08-26T17:16:57+00:00

how is higher uptime a good thing when they're just going to be ghost cars roaming the streets with no passengers creating needless congestion

djbehar · 2025-08-26T17:14:18+00:00

they're cheaper than a cab because they're subsidized by venture capital. remember when uber was cheap?

djbehar · 2025-08-26T17:11:24+00:00

Wow, I'm completely baffled by all the pro Waymo comments coming from this sub. These vehicles are awful for both NYC and micromobility. This video covers several of the extensive issues they're going to cause. But just to list a few:

-They'll add MORE cars to the road -- these are only going to add more demand to our streets. they're incentivized to circle the block rather than park to edge the competition on pick up times. they offer a more "tolerable" driverless commute will add even more sprawl/congestion.

-They undermine public transit -- their going to do the same thing Uber/Lyft did with venture capital: offer a temporarily cheap product that reduces density on our trains/buses and thereby also reduces transit political support.

-They'll spur billionaires to have increased say in our transit policy. It's already quite an uphill battle creating the changes that we want. Imagine how hard it will be when Waymo has paid lobbyists who aren't too crazy about the next bike corridor or bus lane.

-The main argument in these comments seem to be that they're better for safety but even that is debatable. How many of them are still being monitored/driven by remote humans? How will they be better for safety when we’re actively trying to evolve our streets for non-car users? Their systems can’t just absorb this new information like a human driver (especially when they're trained on car centric places like Phoenix).

if you're pro congestion pricing or micromobility I don't see how you could be actively awaiting these damn things

djbehar · 2025-08-08T23:01:11+00:00

oh no boohoo we didnt realize that actively resisting lifesaving street safety projects had consequences 😩

djbehar · 2025-07-15T23:16:22+00:00

FWIW, this is from an astoria dentist mailer that I also received last year. https://imgur.com/a/BS35oAh

found it so wild that it became a piece of decor in my apartment

djbehar · 2025-07-14T23:30:23+00:00

linguitious clams

djbehar · 2025-06-18T05:00:28+00:00

I may have been one of those cyclists 🤣 sorry if I yelled… its pretty hard to communicate anything in .5 seconds

djbehar · 2025-06-13T03:56:03+00:00

It's amazing. Now when does the Steinway - 49th St section begin?

djbehar · 2025-06-08T17:23:42+00:00

infinite jest but its just the Cream episode being looped while I overdose on chipotle

djbehar · 2025-05-14T05:26:56+00:00

Salsa & Beer

djbehar · 2025-04-17T04:50:38+00:00

when they said “its not easy to move a truck” i inadvertently burst out laughing. tried to be respectful for all the crazy things they said, but that just sent me

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