Re: San Francisco bicyclist sues over crash involving 2 Waymo cars

On 6/23/2025 4:49 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:

Seems the initiating incident was a dooring by a Waymo passenger on the
driver's side.  I don't know how this is handled with human drivers, can
a driver be cited for failing to control a passenger?  After that the
cyclist alleges a second Waymo cut her off while heading for the curb.
At that point
     The bike hit the first car’s open door, ejecting the cyclist, and she
    was thrown into the passenger side of the second car. She suffered
    "serious" injuries and was taken to a hospital by ambulance, the
    complaint says.
  https://www.siliconvalley.com/2025/06/10/san-francisco-bicyclist-crash-waymo/
 I have never seen a Waymo operating, and can't judge how dangerous they
might be compared to human drivers.

I recently spent a week in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. I saw quite a few Waymos and rode my bike near several of them. I never saw any misbehavior in any circumstance, but I'm sure that there could be situations not adequately anticipated by programmers, by AI, etc.
Just as there are situations not adequately anticipated by human drivers!
I suppose one factor is whether they are a net improvement over humans. Another important factor is, when they do screw up, how easy is it to get compensated?
Although I do think that in general, the U.S. is "compensation heavy." Sometimes bad stuff just happens. It doesn't necessarily mean you should get paid.
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- Frank Krygowski