How San Francisco Learned to Love Self-Driving Cars

[Zorro]

On a recent windy day at the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center, a dozen tourists snapped photos of the famous view and then turned around to record videos of the vehicles that had brought them there: Waymo self-driving cars.

Across town, near San Francisco’s Ferry Building, half a dozen driverless cars pulled up to the curb in under an hour, dropping off and picking up a mix of locals and visitors.

Downtown in the city’s financial district, Waymo’s sleek white Jaguars decked out with whirling sensors and cameras are a constant presence, zooming down the streets one after another.

Self-driving cars have won hearts and minds in the tech-forward city after a rocky start a year and a half ago. Last summer, Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent, Alphabet, was doing 10,000 paid rides a week. By May, the number jumped to 50,000. Now, it’s more than 100,000 across Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, its largest market.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/waymo-san-francisco-self-driving-robotaxis-uber-244feecf

[stopdiggin]

1. and the other advantage - they are not blaring their horns

like deranged psychos, at every other car (or light change) on the road.

[Bobstandard]

2. Well that's bs

Most of us hate them. I’ve had to jump back on the curb when one got way too close as I was crossing the street. When driving I. 19th avenue one ahead of me was going so slowly that the drivers around me had to slow and try to change lanes to get around. I saw one stopped on Geary in the center lane empty, causing a huge backup. I saw another empty one stopped in the light rail lane, multiple light rail vehicles stopped behind it. Maybe tourists love them.

[Bobstandard]

3. Deleting for double post