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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 41m

Sure, as Uber ATG no longer exists and was sold off in 2020. Regardless of 2018 or 2025 or the 1990s, ~hourly human interventions continues to be the operational reality of this tech, even when constrained to the <1% of US where Waymo operates uncrewed.

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 47m

Per Waymo reportedly, their current (5th gen) robot's MTBF is in practice ~10-15 miles, ie ~once per hour at 10-15 mph ave speed.

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 6d

FWIW, based on this report, Waymo's robots have a MTBF (mean time between failures) on the scale of an ~hour. Without telops, nearly every Waymo robot they send out would fail needing field rescue before it needed a charge.

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Aug 20

A few (~3-5) minutes per hour ~= 5-8% would be enormous and ~2x worse than Zoox and Cruise achieved or at least admitted, as none of this is reported to regulators or audited by any independent authority.

This is the only news in this co-CEO profile, AFAICT.

www.vanityfair.com/culture/stor...

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 51m

"the magic of autonomy" includes hundreds of 24x7 operations ppl in an unknown number of trench coats:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 6d

FWIW, based on this report, Waymo's robots have a MTBF (mean time between failures) on the scale of an ~hour. Without telops, nearly every Waymo robot they send out would fail needing field rescue before it needed a charge.

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Aug 20

A few (~3-5) minutes per hour ~= 5-8% would be enormous and ~2x worse than Zoox and Cruise achieved or at least admitted, as none of this is reported to regulators or audited by any independent authority.

This is the only news in this co-CEO profile, AFAICT.

www.vanityfair.com/culture/stor...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 56m

Safety drivers not chatting with passengers is same as everyone else has done, inc Waymo and GM Cruise, AFAIK. And all have started their passenger service w safety drivers.

As soon as they removed safety drivers, SOTA Waymo has done this over and over and over again:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Jun 3

Yet another Waymo robot impeded emergency vehicles:

Bryant at 2nd, San Francisco

Safety drivers fix this in seconds. Waymo's never explained why their telops can't reliably.

You could lose your license for repeatedly doing this, but not Alphabet/Google/Waymo.

OP: tiktok.4evercontrarian

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 17h

Kavanaugh Stops contain multitudes of civil rights violations.

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 19h

Nevada calls <$250k "a reasonable penalty that will still serve to deter future non-compliance conduct.”

I'm guessing not.

Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 1d

Nevada state regulators have accused Elon Musk’s Boring Co. of digging without approval, releasing untreated water onto city streets and spilling muck from its trucks, according to a new document obtained by @citycastvegas.bsky.social and @propublica.org.

Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Accused of Nearly 800 Environmental Violations on Las Vegas Project

Nevada could’ve fined the company more than $3 million, but regulators are seeking a reduced penalty of $242,800, citing an “extraordinary number of violations.”

www.propublica.org

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 21h

I prefer it

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 22h

I've got my costume.

When the abyss gazes into you, you also gaze into it.

Steve Jolly wears a cardboard replica of a CCTV camera on his head, Bilderberg Group meeting, 2013

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 22h

"OMG, I'm stuck in a Waymo, again. This is the 4th garbage truck...Waymo support team...are trying to get me out of here"
OP: tiktok.fortheloveofcece

If you ride in an experimental, incomplete, and incompetent robot; wise to bring walking shoes, way more patience than usual, and a sense of humor.

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

And hopefully not do this on the way:
bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Aug 31

Brushfire closed 280 in both directions, ~Woodside. A Waymo robot, mistakenly trying to use the left shoulder to get around the stopped vehicles, drove into traffic attempting to use the same shoulder to get away from the fire.

Robots often make bad/emergency situations worse.

OP: reddit.FlipStig1

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

totalitarianism, the cause of and solution to all problems

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

Waymo being Waymo, 5k lb road hazard:

most famous block of Castro St, San Francisco

There's oblivious and then there's robot oblivious.
There's stubborn and then there's robot stubborn.
There's uncommunicative and then there's robot silence.

Safety drivers fix in seconds.

OP: tiktok.justjoe1111

Yup this happened earlier, my part involved trying to tell Waymo , just turn your wheels! 🤣🤣🫶🏼🌈. #rushhour #waymo

TikTok video by Joe and Little White Paw 🐾

www.tiktok.com

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

Many if not most ppl do not want to get into a janky robot. Besides, they serve a very limited geo and have many restrictions within their geos, eg no fwys, so they are slower on ave.

20 hr days for robot cars is not realistic.

They also require people to help them 24x7:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Aug 20

A few (~3-5) minutes per hour ~= 5-8% would be enormous and ~2x worse than Zoox and Cruise achieved or at least admitted, as none of this is reported to regulators or audited by any independent authority.

This is the only news in this co-CEO profile, AFAICT.

www.vanityfair.com/culture/stor...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

Yet another (60+) Wrong Way Waymo:

approaching Wilshire Blvd, LA area

Apparently, another Waymo robot queued in traffic attempted to go around the queue by driving into oncoming traffic. So many of these videos. NHTSA just opened an investigation of Tesla FSD for this.

OP: tiktok.crapricrumb

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

What a ridiculously naive take sprinkled with pretension. And no there is not "always some incremental progress." Many projects, esp R&D and often AI, are write-offs, like the ~$10 Billion GM blew on Cruise. I do agree you can't help me to understand more about this tech.

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes they screw up while avoiding too:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Jun 6

Yet another (45+) Wrong Way Waymo:

Embarcadero Rd underpass of Caltrain tracks & Alma St, Palo Alto, CA

This is right next to the Stanford Caltrain Station. There should be nothing tricky about this. It has been single lane in that direction w double yellow line for decades.

OP: tiktok.sabz.i

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

Waymo has not 'solved' rail crossings, unless by solved we mean avoid.

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Jun 26

Evidently, Waymo is routing around the Caltrain at-grade crossings in Silicon Valley (pic1), as they apparently still do in San Francisco (pic2), leading to circuitous routes to use the few under/over passes such as Oregon Expressway in Palo Alto and Mariposa St in SF.

pic1 OP: reddit.OffPiste18

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, the struggle is real.

Fortunately, their place is still <1% of USA, unfortunately:

🧵

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Apr 8

In SF, Waymo has reached an awkward density stage where their robotic foibles often cluster, eg in time serially at a location like this, but rarely densely enough for their robotic ways to dominate, fully roboticizing local driving culture.

They're not locked in SF w us, we're locked in SF w them.

Miniature Enemy Crab @doubleandhalf.bsky.social · Apr 8

recently here in SF I watched waymos block 2-3 lanes of traffic because the traffic light was out (flashing red) and they took too long to Go when it was their turn so the cross traffic would go again. Eventually a Waymo would be brave enough to cross, only to be replaced by another a few cars later

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes they take it:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Jan 5

Waymo aggro. Video of a Waymo robot cutting in front of a driver who had the right of way as light changes. The Waymo fails to signal their lane change from the War Memorial Opera House pudo zone.

Van Ness at Grove, San Francisco

Directly across Van Ness from City Hall.

OP: tiktok.davidkhugatti

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

If you look at history, you can find many many examples of technical regression at all levels from civilizations to specific computerized systems including vehicle automation systems.

The very idea of monotonic (always/inevitable) improvement is profoundly foolish/childish.

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

LMAO, tell that to Uber ATG, Argo, GM Cruise, and the majority of companies that have had California permits to test and/or deploy this tech, but failed and have since given up.

Technology IS A HUMAN ABILITY.

Waymo's tech legally includes and is very dependent on humans:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 6d

FWIW, based on this report, Waymo's robots have a MTBF (mean time between failures) on the scale of an ~hour. Without telops, nearly every Waymo robot they send out would fail needing field rescue before it needed a charge.

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Aug 20

A few (~3-5) minutes per hour ~= 5-8% would be enormous and ~2x worse than Zoox and Cruise achieved or at least admitted, as none of this is reported to regulators or audited by any independent authority.

This is the only news in this co-CEO profile, AFAICT.

www.vanityfair.com/culture/stor...

1

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

"their abilities only improve over time" is just more techo fantasy wishful thinking belied by Waymo's own reports to California regulators, including their performance w safety drivers.

Your anecdata may of course vary.

Meanwhile, without safety drivers:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Jun 3

Yet another Waymo robot impeded emergency vehicles:

Bryant at 2nd, San Francisco

Safety drivers fix this in seconds. Waymo's never explained why their telops can't reliably.

You could lose your license for repeatedly doing this, but not Alphabet/Google/Waymo.

OP: tiktok.4evercontrarian

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

And there are many videos of them being tagged and a few of ppl doing flips off them, eg:
bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Sep 1

New entrant for best flip off a Waymo robot:

Fillmore & Greenwich Streets, San Francisco

Robots get by with a little help from their police assistants.

The PlumpJack's on the corner in background is Gavin Newsom's original business, wine & liquor merchant.

OP: tiktok.stinje

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

This tiktok account posted a couple videos of them pranking Waymo robots, eg:
bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · Jul 1

street finds its own misuses for robots

Geary St, Union Sq, San Francisco

OP: tiktok.gamepromagazine

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John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 1d

There are videos similar to all of those w Waymo robots, eg recently:

bsky.app/profile/anic...

John Berry @aniccia.bsky.social · 4d

Street finding uses for Waymo robots, DTLA.

OP: tiktok.oh_matt

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