<h2>Poor Turnout</h2>
While tech companies like Waymo, Uber, and Tesla race to be the first to build a fully-autonomous vehicle, the public is <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/teens-self-driving-cars">left eating their dust</a>.
About 71 percent of Americans say that they don&#8217;t trust self-driving cars, according to a new American Automobile Association (AAA) survey. That&#8217;s roughly the same percentage as last year&#8217;s survey, but it&#8217;s eight points higher than in 2017, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-14/americans-still-fear-self-driving-cars">according to </a><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-14/americans-still-fear-self-driving-cars">Bloomberg</a> — and just 19 percent say they&#8217;d put their children or family members into an autonomous vehicle.
Overall, the data is a striking sign of public fatigue with self-driving cars.
<h2>Track Record</h2>
Autonomous vehicles, unlike some other emerging technologies, have suffered <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-safety-data-trust-numbers">very public setbacks</a>, including when an Uber vehicle <a href="https://futurism.com/self-driving-fatality-preventable-uber">struck and killed a pedestrian</a> a year ago.
&#8220;It&#8217;s possible that the sustained level of fear is rooted in a heightened focus, whether good or bad, on incidents involving these types of vehicles,&#8221; said AAA director of automotive engineering Greg Brannon in a statement obtained by Bloomberg. &#8220;Also it could simply be due to a fear of the unknown.&#8221;
<h2>Uphill Battle</h2>
The AAA survey found that Americans are more accepting of autonomous vehicle tech in limited-use cases. For example, 53 percent of survey respondents were okay with self-driving trams or shuttles being used in areas like theme parks, while 44 percent accepted the idea of autonomous food-delivery bots.
Self-driving car companies are currently engaging in public relations efforts to earn people&#8217;s trust, Bloomberg reports. But if these AAA numbers are any indication, there&#8217;s a long way to go.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/hyperdrive">Americans Still Fear Self-Driving Cars</a> [Bloomberg]
More on autonomous vehicles: <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-early-rider-autonomous-vehicle?preview=true&amp;id=149198&amp;post_type=post&amp;_wpnonce=9b310ae93e">Exclusive: A Waymo One Rider’s Experiences Highlight Autonomous Rideshare’s Shortcomings</a>

Before autonomous vehicles hit the road, they'll have to solve more than just technological challenges.

Just 19 percent of Americans trust self-driving cars with kids

Public Trust

A new survey by AAA shows that most Americans distrust self-driving cars. In the past two years, public trust in the emerging technology has gone down.

Just 19 Percent of Americans Trust Self-Driving Cars With Kids

Fear of the unknown meets well-publicized crashes.

<h2>Palm Reading</h2>
For autonomous vehicles that rely on smooth roads and clear signals, a broken traffic light could conceivably pose a major problem.
To get around the problem of a missing green light, self-driving car company Waymo trained its vehicles&#8217; artificial intelligence to detect and respond to the arm movements of a traffic cop as they wave traffic through an intersection, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/waymo-self-driving-cars-police-officer-gestures/#ftag=CAD590a51e">according to CNET</a> — and you can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OopTOjnD3qY">watch it on YouTube</a>.
<h2>Long Time Coming</h2>
Waymo <a href="https://medium.com/waymo/safely-sharing-the-road-with-cyclists-9fe6ad3b79f5">first claimed</a> that its autonomous vehicles could respond to hand signals from nearby cyclists back in 2016. That particular research treated cyclists, from the vehicle&#8217;s perspective, as obstacles to track and avoid.
A new video published by Waymo on Wednesday is the first that shows its vehicles responding to gesture commands — especially in the absence of the traffic lights on which it would normally rely — and <a href="https://futurism.com/police-control-self-driving-cars">obeying police orders</a>. The video, which runs at three times normal speed, shows a picture-in-picture display of the car&#8217;s digital perspective and a video camera as it goes through an intersection.
<h2>Computer Vision</h2>
The video shows the car approach the intersection where a virtual red wall blocks off the road, suggesting that the computer&#8217;s software responds to the absence of a green light at an intersection the same way as it might to an illuminated red light.
The cop in the video, represented by a small prism, teeters across the virtual representation of the intersection before finally waving the Waymo vehicle&#8217;s vehicle through the intersection and along its way.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/waymo-self-driving-cars-police-officer-gestures/#ftag=CAD590a51e">Waymo self-driving cars can now respond to traffic cops&#8217; hand signals</a> [CNET]
More on Waymo: <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-safety-data-trust-numbers">Expert Slams Waymo Safety Data: “They Obviously Do Not Trust These Numbers”</a>

Waymo's vehicles can obey traffic cops if the light goes out at an intersection.

Watch a self-driving car obey police hand signals

Passing Through

self-driving car company Waymo recently shared a video showing one of its autonomous vehicles being waved through an intersection where the light was out.

Watch a Self-Driving Car Obey Police Hand Signals

Waymo's autonomous vehicles can be waved through a broken traffic light.

<h2>Full Autonomy</h2>
According to Elon Musk, Tesla&#8217;s cars are nearly ready for fully autonomous driving.
&#8220;I think we will be feature complete — full self-driving — this year,&#8221; Musk told Cathie Wood and Tasha Keeney of ARK Invest in a <a href="https://ark-invest.com/research/podcast/elon-musk-podcast">podcast on Tuesday</a>. &#8220;Meaning the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up and take you all the way to your destination without an intervention, this year.&#8221;
<h2>Car Naps</h2>
By next year, you&#8217;ll be able to take a nap behind the wheel, Musk claimed in the same interview.
&#8220;My guess as to when we would think it is safe for somebody to essentially fall asleep and wake up at their destination? Probably towards the end of next year,&#8221; he said.
And he&#8217;s willing to stand by his words: &#8220;I would say I am of certain of that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That is not a question mark.&#8221;
<h2>Big Promises</h2>
Musk is no stranger to <a href="https://futurism.com/heres-list-everything-elon-musk-2030">making big promises</a>. As it stands right now, Tesla&#8217;s Autopilot can make <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mad-max-mode-video">lane changes</a>, and navigate highway ramps — but it still can&#8217;t handle most other roads.
In October, Tesla <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-dropped-full-self-driving-mode">dropped the &#8220;full self-driving&#8221; mode</a> from the Model 3, with Musk claiming it was &#8220;causing too much confusion&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1053068635940388865">in a tweet</a>.
The race to have cars take over all driving functions is on. Alphabet&#8217;s Waymo launched a <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service">robo-taxi service</a> in Arizona in December.
But even Waymo&#8217;s cars require human safety <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-rider-talks-publicly">drivers to take control</a> on multiple occasions throughout a single ride.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-full-self-driving-2019-2020-promise/">Elon Musk Promises a Really Truly Self-Driving Tesla in 2020</a> [Wired] 

More on Tesla: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-party-and-camping-mode">Teslas Are Getting a &#8220;Party and Camping Mode&#8221;</a>

Elon Musk "certain" full self-driving tech will be ready next year

Car Naps

"I think we will be feature complete — full self-driving — this year," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a podcast on Tuesday.

Elon Musk: Teslas Will Be Fully Self-Driving By Next Year

"I am of certain of that."

<h2>Top of the Class</h2>
On Wednesday, California&#8217;s Department of Motor Vehicles released its <a href="https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/disengagement_report_2018">annual report</a> of self-driving car safety data, detailing how often autonomous vehicles created by companies like Uber, Tesla, Apple, and Waymo disengage their cars&#8217; self-driving mode and give control back to a human safety driver to avoid a crash or help the vehicle when its software gets confused.
The report shows a clear winner: on average, Waymo&#8217;s self-driving cars drove autonomously for an eyebrow-raising 11,154.3 miles before a human took over — more than twice as far as GM, the second place finisher.
The number is impressive, but it but doesn&#8217;t match the experience of Waymo passengers in Arizona, interviewed by <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-early-rider-autonomous-vehicle">Futurism</a>, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/12/we-finally-talked-to-an-actual-waymo-passenger-heres-what-he-told-us/">Ars Technica</a>, and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/20/18175563/waymo-one-customer-interview-self-driving-arizona">The Verge</a>, who report frequent interventions from human drivers. And four experts cautioned us that the new figures in California might not tell the whole story — nevermind that the continued presence of safety drivers shows the vehicles aren&#8217;t quite ready for prime time.
&#8220;I think the proof is in the pudding,&#8221; Duke University engineer and autonomous vehicle expert Mary Cummings told Futurism. &#8220;Waymo is not driving without a safety driver either in California or in Arizona, even though they legally could, so they obviously do not trust these numbers either.&#8221;
<h2>Disengagement Rates</h2>
When Futurism contacted a Waymo spokesperson to ask about the incredibly low disengagement rate, the spokesperson sent a <a href="https://medium.com/waymo/an-update-on-waymo-disengagements-in-california-d671fd31c3e2">press release</a> explaining the company&#8217;s progress in teaching its autonomous vehicles to handle unusual scenarios that might have previously tripped up a vehicle&#8217;s artificial intelligence.
Udacity founder and Stanford University engineer Sebastian Thrun told Futurism that Waymo&#8217;s self-reported disengagement rate was &#8220;totally feasible.&#8221;
But these disengagement reports aren&#8217;t the rigorous analyses that they seem to be at first glance, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/new-robo-car-report-card-not-what-it-seems/">according to Wired</a>, as each autonomous vehicle company collects and reports their own data, which are then compiled and compared side by side, even though each company may test using different metrics and standards.
A spokesperson from California&#8217;s DMV told Futurism that the government reviews each company&#8217;s data before publishing the annual report.
&#8220;The DMV carefully reviews all disengagement reports from manufacturers permitted to test autonomous vehicles in California,&#8221; the spokesperson told Futurism. &#8220;When necessary, the DMV requests supplemental information and follows up with the permit holder to discuss our regulations and address concerns and clarify the contents of the report, as well as learn more about the company’s testing method and data collecting procedures.&#8221;
When asked if the DMV had specifically verified Waymo&#8217;s claim of over 11,000 miles driven per disengagement, the spokesperson said that the DMV&#8217;s main focus has been making sure that each company filed a complete report.
And experts cautioned that the companies may not have been totally transparent about their tests.
&#8220;To be frankly honest, without knowing when or why the safety driver disengaged the self-driving capability or the context of the miles traveled (rain, snow, highway, city, etc.) it is difficult to interpret what 11,000-plus miles actually means,&#8221; Lionel Robert, a self-driving car expert from University of Michigan, told Futurism. &#8220;This will continue to be a problem until the federal government steps up and standardizes some of these measures. Unfortunately, at this time we can just guess and that&#8217;s not what we should be doing.&#8221;
At press time, the Waymo spokesperson hadn&#8217;t clarified the extent to which the government reviews disengagement data before publishing its annual report.
<h2>Take it For a Spin</h2>
&#8220;11,000 miles is feasible in carefully constructed environments with extremely detailed mapping and under low uncertainty cases, included no bad weather, typical traffic conditions, etc.,&#8221; Cummings said. &#8220;But this metric can be quite deceiving since we have no idea of knowing what these conditions are.&#8221;
Waymo&#8217;s reported test results could show that the company excels in areas where others continue to struggle. They could also be the result of running self-driving cars on empty, well-paved roads during the daylight.
&#8220;Yes [Waymo&#8217;s report] seems high, but then you have to look at the fleet size and what all the vehicles are doing,&#8221; Jonathan P. How, an MIT aeronautics engineer and self-driving car researcher, told Futurism. &#8220;If many are driving in well-known relatively simple domains, then it might skew the results high. But I don&#8217;t know much about why they might be so much higher.&#8221;
Editor’s Note 2/14: This article has been updated to include an additional statement from California&#8217;s Department of Motor Vehicles.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/new-robo-car-report-card-not-what-it-seems/">A New Robo-Car Report Card Isn&#8217;t Quite What it Seems</a> [Wired]
More on Waymo: <a href="https://futurism.com/people-road-raging-waymo-self-driving-cars">People Are Road Raging At Waymo&#8217;s Self-Driving Cars</a>

"This metric can be quite deceiving since we have no idea of knowing what these conditions are."

Expert slams Waymo safety data: "They obviously do not trust these numbers"

Unraveling Numbers

According to a report put out by California's DMV, Waymo's autonomous vehicles drive 11,154.3 miles per disengagement, but that number might be generous.

Expert Slams Waymo Safety Data: “They Obviously Do Not Trust These Numbers”

California’s report on autonomous vehicle tests doesn’t tell the full story.

<h2>Hit the Brakes</h2>
Two Florida lawmakers are working to loosen up state restrictions on self-driving technology.
Representative Jason Fischer introduced a new bill that would allow self-driving cars to roam Florida streets with no human safety driver, <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-push-is-on-to-legalize-fully-automated-vehicles-in-florida-20190125-story.html">according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel</a>, and Senator Jeff Brandes, who&#8217;s <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/Florida-law-allows-driverless-vehicles-Does-the-law-go-too-far-_166914400">pushed similar legislation in the past</a>, plans to file similar legislation in the Senate.
These politicians might be confident that true self-driving vehicles are ready for primetime, but that optimism doesn&#8217;t match the reality of the situation.
<h2>Hand On The Wheel</h2>
Fischer told the Sun Sentinel that the bill is intended to cement Florida&#8217;s reputation as a leader in autonomous vehicle testing. He claims that his proposed legislation will allow self-driving car companies like Waymo and Uber to further develop technology without restrictive regulations — even letting a rider in the driver&#8217;s seat watch TV while the car navigated itself.
But not everyone is excited about that prospect. During past attempts to lessen these regulations, many were concerned about whether or not the cars could be trusted to operate safely on their own.
&#8220;You have this technology that is being unleashed on the world prior to it really being ready,&#8221; liability and injury lawyer Joshua Chilson <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/Florida-law-allows-driverless-vehicles-Does-the-law-go-too-far-_166914400">told the Tampa Bay Times</a>. &#8220;It’s obviously not advanced to the point where it’s capable of responding to real-life scenarios, like the one that happened in Tempe.&#8221;
<h2>Buckle Up</h2>
Right now, Waymo One is the only commercial ride-hailing service for autonomous vehicles, and every car still has a human sitting in the driver&#8217;s seat, even though some experiments go without a safety driver. That&#8217;s not to say that the law is the only thing holding Waymo One back from axing these safety drivers — autonomous vehicles regularly <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-early-rider-autonomous-vehicle">get confused or stuck</a> when left to their own devices and require a human touch to get back on track, according to passengers of the service.
The implication that people would finally be free to watch TV instead of the road is particularly troubling, given reports that the safety driver operating the Uber vehicle that struck and killed a pedestrian in March was <a href="https://futurism.com/ubers-self-driving-car-just-killed-pedestrian">streaming shows on her phone</a> at the time.
Technological progress is one thing, but expecting <a href="https://futurism.com/endangered-coral-reefs-legal-recourse/">industries to regulate themselves</a> has backfired time and time again. Given that the whole point of self-driving cars is to prevent the huge amount of accidents caused by human error, it would be exceptionally short-sighted to do away with restrictions that were put in place to keep people safe before the technology was truly ready.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-push-is-on-to-legalize-fully-automated-vehicles-in-florida-20190125-story.html">Fleets of automated cars may be coming to Florida roads with no human oversight</a> [South Florida Sun Sentinel]
More on self-driving cars: <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-early-rider-autonomous-vehicle">Exclusive: A Waymo One Rider&#8217;s Experiences Highlight Autonomous Rideshare&#8217;s Shortcomings</a>

If the point of self-driving cars is to prevent accidents, why are we dialing back the safety regulations?

Florida law would allow self-driving cars with no one in the driver's seat

Take It Slow

Florida politicians want to make sure the state remains a leader in self-driving cars by loosening restrictions. But the technology isn't ready for that.

Florida Law Would Allow Self-Driving Cars With No Safety Drivers

Politicians are dangerously optimistic about autonomous cars.

Just before Christmas, a passenger using the Waymo One ride-hailing service found himself in a self-driving car that seemed to have lost its way. 
The human safety driver – present just in case something goes wrong – had already taken control of the self-driving car once when it took too long to make a left turn. After the autonomous car took over again, the passenger – who we’ll refer to as “Carl” to protect his identity – realized he was cruising right past the destination he’d entered in the Alphabet-owned company’s Uber-style app.
Carl’s stop was off to the right, but there were no obvious openings that Waymo&#8217;s autonomous vehicle could take to move into the right lane. Instead of merging, it continued an extra quarter-mile down the street, eventually making a legal U-turn so it could take advantage of a protected left turn before dropping him off.
&#8220;It didn&#8217;t even turn on a turn signal and hope that someone let it in,&#8221; Carl told Futurism. &#8220;It just stayed in the left lane and went all the way down past my destination.&#8221;
On an early January trip with the same pickup and dropoff locations, the autonomous vehicle avoided the whole mess by taking the freeway.
Carl shared his insight into Waymo’s self-driving car services, which he’s used periodically over the past five months, with Futurism under the condition of anonymity, as he had to sign a nondisclosure agreement to take part in an earlier, experimental version of the autonomous ride-hailing service.
Overall, Carl is optimistic and excited about self-driving technology. But he also emphasized that Waymo&#8217;s new service doesn&#8217;t yet fully live up to marketing and hype. Back in December, when Waymo <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service">announced an Uber-style service</a> called Waymo One that would shuttle drivers around Phoenix, Arizona, it made bold promises. 
Passengers – who would initially come from an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-13/waymo-to-start-first-driverless-car-service-next-month">applicant pool of participants</a> in Waymo&#8217;s &#8220;early rider&#8221; test program – would be able to call a self-driving minivan at <a href="https://medium.com/waymo/riding-with-waymo-one-today-9ac8164c5c0e">any time of the day or night</a>, and safety drivers would be there only &#8220;for riders’ comfort and convenience,&#8221; the company claimed back when it announced Waymo One. Eventually, the safety drivers might even <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-ride-hailing-service-launching-soon-fully-autonomous-cars">chill in the back seat</a>.
But Carl’s experiences as he used the services in the patch of downtown Phoenix where they’re allowed to operate tell a different story — one in which Waymo’s self-driving cars struggle to make left turns, change lanes, or merge onto the freeway. In general, they run into difficulty with tasks that require a human-like sense of intuitive timing and an understanding of other drivers&#8217; intentions, not just the ability to spot signs, obstacles, and road markings at which Waymo vans have become adept.
And as for the driver chilling in the back seat? For now, a Waymo employee remains in the driver’s seat during every Waymo One trip and regularly takes over when the van gets confused. The safety drivers are instructed to take over when they feel it’s safer to do so than to let the car continue driving itself.
A Waymo spokesperson declined to comment on the record about most specific incidents described in this story, instead corroborating some information on background.
For now, Waymo’s early rider program and Waymo One are impressive demos. But the services are still heavily mediated by human employees and don’t quite provide the driverless experience the company initially promised.
<h2>The Highest Priority </h2>
Glitches aside, Carl wants to live in a world where robots and autonomous cars handle dangerous tasks like driving, an activity that led to<a href="https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812451"> 37,461 crash-related deaths</a> in America in 2016, and is optimistic that Waymo’s self-driving technology is on its way there. Carl was inspired by movies like “Minority Report,” where a centralized, well-managed network of autonomous cars seamlessly shuttles people around.
&#8220;It seems so safe,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think that future is a long way off, but it’s something that I hope for.&#8221;
That future seemed to be especially far off back in March, when one of Uber’s autonomous vehicles <a href="https://futurism.com/self-driving-fatality-preventable-uber">struck and killed a pedestrian</a> in a tragic crash that was later revealed to have involved a distracted safety driver. One might assume this sort of situation is exactly why Waymo embraces such a cautious approach – one that could be a sign of things to come for the oft-criticized self-driving car industry.
The technology that Waymo has and continues to develop is impressive, and Waymo One could still someday grow into the seamless, autonomous ride-hailing app of the future that the company first envisioned. The question of when that might happen comes down to how quickly Waymo can ensure that any new features are completely safe and reliable.
<figure id="attachment_149205" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-149205 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2019/01/Waymo-Art-3-1200x1400.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1400" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Gordon Johnson/Waymo/Tag Hartman-Simkins</figcaption></figure>
&#8220;I do trust the car,&#8221; said Carl. &#8220;I do trust that it&#8217;s going to get me there, and I trust that the person behind the wheel is going to keep me safe in the meantime.&#8221;
But with that trust comes an understanding that the autonomous vehicles drive very differently from people. On one hand, that means that the autonomous vehicles are less aggressive than your typical Phoenix drivers, who Carl characterized as notoriously antagonistic, and who have even reportedly taken to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/us/waymo-self-driving-cars-arizona-attacks.html">throwing rocks</a> at self-driving cars.
Back in December, Ars Technica <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/12/we-finally-talked-to-an-actual-waymo-passenger-heres-what-he-told-us/">spoke to Michael Richardson</a>, a member of the experimental Waymo early rider program who used the service in September and October. Like Carl, Richardson described a mostly-functional self-driving vehicle service that occasionally struggled with left turns and changing lanes.
&#8220;Our vehicles complete unprotected left turns in autonomous mode regularly,&#8221; a Waymo spokesperson told Ars in response to Richardson’s claims. &#8220;However, we&#8217;ve always said that unprotected lefts on high-speed roads are among the most difficult driving maneuvers. As our technology is new, we are going to be cautious because safety is our highest priority.&#8221;
<h2>Shifting Lanes</h2>
Operating cautiously also often means sacrificing expediency. Several months after Richardson&#8217;s account, those problems persist in the Waymo One program, according to Carl.
The act of merging onto a highway is a nuisance for any driver. But after signaling and maybe even edging your car into the lane a little bit, someone will likely let you through. For now, Waymo&#8217;s vehicles are still struggling with those skills.
&#8220;The first time I took it, it got onto the freeway on-ramp,&#8221; said Carl, &#8220;but people are dicks.&#8221; 
No one gave the car room to merge onto the freeway, and it never used its turn signal to alert drivers that it wanted to do so. Instead, Carl said that the car sped up to the freeway speed limit, seemingly to shift lanes when an opening appeared. When that didn&#8217;t happen, the car exited the freeway without switching lanes and tried again at the next ramp, where it finally found an opening. Carl said it was several months before he was in another Waymo vehicle that attempted to take the freeway, even if doing so would have been the obvious route.
&#8220;It didn&#8217;t try to slow down and find an opening or anything,&#8221; Carl said. “It just kind of passed everybody &#8217;cause they were moving kinda slow. That was kind of weird in my opinion. It has never taken the freeway since.&#8221;
Based on Carl’s account, it would seem Waymo programmed its autonomous vehicles to treat turn signals as an indicator that the car is about to execute a turn or merge, not an indicator that it is looking for the opportunity to do so.
&#8220;If there&#8217;s other cars there, it&#8217;s not going to [merge],&#8221; Carl said. &#8220;And then it doesn&#8217;t even turn on the turn signal and wait for someone to give it an opening.&#8221;
However, according to Waymo’s account of its service, the company’s self-driving vehicles are supposed to, and regularly do, slow down and signal before changing lanes.
In situations that confuse the car, Carl says the human driver sometimes takes over. During one trip, the driver had to briefly turn off autonomous mode because the car was too hesitant to make a left turn at an intersection where it had a green light but not a separate light for left turns.
Another time, in mid-November, Carl used a Waymo car to get home <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-autonomous-vehicles-pittsburgh">late at night</a>. When he got into the autonomous vehicle, the safety driver drove the whole time, not once switching on the car&#8217;s self-driving capabilities.
<h2>Road Rage</h2>
Aside from the minor annoyance of having a trip take longer than it should, these stories suggest the company’s self-driving cars could be inadvertently holding up traffic as well.
Both Carl and Richardson reported riding in a Waymo vehicle that got stuck behind a city bus that pulled over to load and unload passengers while still partially blocking the lane. Richardson told Ars that his safety driver took over to steer around the bus, but Carl&#8217;s vehicle sat and waited.
Carl told us that his vehicle stopped itself before crossing an intersection because on the other side of the crossing, a bus had pulled into a bus stop. Meanwhile, a growing queue of irate drivers found themselves stuck behind the hesitant car that was unwilling to go around the bus.
&#8220;People behind it were honking because they probably wanted to turn right — it was the right lane,&#8221; Carl told us. &#8220;And they were just honking at this car, like that makes a difference to the car.&#8221;
A stopped bus is a minor annoyance for a human driver, but briefly swerving around and continuing onward is second nature. That&#8217;s not the case for an autonomous vehicle programmed to treat lane dividers as impenetrable borders.
&#8220;If there’s an object obstructing the road and it’s safe to do so, the vehicle can steer around it provided that it’s within the law and safe to do so,&#8221; a Waymo spokesperson told Futurism. “But if it were something like flashing lights on a bus, you’re not supposed to pass those because there may be schoolchildren.”
<h2>Man Behind The Curtain</h2>
Carl&#8217;s challenges with his Waymo experience weren&#8217;t limited to what happened outside the car. The rules the safety drivers are told to follow can make sharing the confined space of the test vehicles awkward.
Carl found it difficult to strike up a conversation with many of the safety drivers — something that passengers were told not to do during onboarding — and often felt awkward. Passengers were also told not to record video during rides or ask drivers technical questions.
It became even harder to chat with drivers when Waymo added a second employee to some vehicles. Waymo still runs its early rider program parallel to Waymo One. In the experimental early rider program, Waymo tests out new features that may make it Waymo One, including different safety driver arrangements. For several of Carl&#8217;s rides, there was a safety driver sitting behind the wheel and a second employee with a laptop computer in the passenger seat.
In the moment, Carl wondered whether the drivers were being monitored, but this time he chose not to ask in case striking up a conversation might get the drivers in trouble.
<figure id="attachment_149206" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-large wp-image-149206" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2019/01/Way-Art-2-1200x1400.png" alt="" width="1200" height="1400" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Gordon Johnson/Waymo/Tag Hartman-Simkins</figcaption></figure>
But Carl once rode with a driver who was not only willing to chat, but who said he hadn&#8217;t heard that they weren&#8217;t supposed to. This driver, Carl said, explained that he talked with passengers every now and then, especially when the car was stuck in traffic or a dust storm rendered its computer vision system inoperable. Even then, Carl had to take the initiative to break the silence.
&#8220;I said &#8216;Hey, are you allowed to talk to me?'&#8221; Carl said, recapping the conversation he had with a driver. &#8220;And he&#8217;s like, &#8216;Yeah, why wouldn&#8217;t I be?&#8217; I said, &#8216;Well, in the onboarding, it said I wasn&#8217;t supposed to talk to you,&#8217; and he was kind of surprised by that. He said &#8216;Oh, well, we&#8217;re supposed to give the driverless experience, so I guess that&#8217;s why.'&#8221;
Waymo encourages passengers to push a button and chat with rider support instead of their drivers, in part to simulate a driverless experience but also so that Waymo can directly learn more about the passengers’ experience, gather data, and answer questions in real time. Further, safety drivers don’t have the authority to take the car anywhere off its predetermined path. Instead, Carl said passengers had to contact a technician in a central office in order to <a href="https://medium.com/waymo/riding-with-waymo-one-today-9ac8164c5c0e">change their destination</a>.
It would be easier for riders to pretend they were alone in the car, though, if the safety drivers weren&#8217;t constantly talking to the vehicle itself.
Carl told us that every time the car runs into trouble, whether it takes too long to make a left turn or has trouble with an on-ramp, the driver makes a voice log into one of the many radios or sensors in the vehicle. That way, the data being collected as Waymo&#8217;s vehicles drive around gets supplemented by a time-stamped record of the driver&#8217;s observations that the company can use to improve later on.
These voice logs, in addition to data collected from the ongoing early rider program, can be used to develop, test, and fix new experimental features that may slowly-but-surely trickle into the commercial Waymo One service. And perhaps that pace is okay — it’s these incremental advances that will help bring us to a reality with ubiquitous self-driving cars. 
The awkward human interactions, however, are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
For a while, Carl thought that when his driver spoke, they were merely commenting on the vehicle&#8217;s performance, not unlike how people chat about the weather when they&#8217;re sharing a long elevator ride. But every time Carl joined in what they thought was a conversation, the driver would immediately shut it down.
&#8220;One of the first times it was pulling up in front of my house, I walked up and it slammed on its brakes because it thought I was going to walk in front of it,&#8221; Carl told us. &#8220;So I opened the door and the guy said something about how it had slammed on its brakes. And I was like, &#8216;Oh, yeah. Sorry. That was my bad.&#8221;
Immediately, without turning his head, the Waymo safety driver replied. 
&#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m not talking to you.&#8221;

A Waymo One rider's experiences highlight autonomous rideshare's shortcomings

Surprise U-Turn

Futurism spoke to a Waymo One passenger. They talked about promising technology that runs into some glitches and dished on awkward driver encounters.

A Waymo One Rider's Experiences Highlight Autonomous Rideshare's Shortcomings

Waymo One through the eyes of an actual rider.

Exclusive: A Waymo One Rider’s Experiences Highlight Autonomous Rideshare’s Shortcomings

<h2>Driverless in Michigan</h2>
Alphabet-owned driverless car company Waymo has received approval from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to build an autonomous vehicle factory in the state.
In a <a href="https://medium.com/waymo/growing-our-team-and-business-in-michigan-932f75addb45">Medium post</a>, Waymo claims its factory will be the first in the world that&#8217;s entirely dedicated to the mass production of driverless vehicles. The company has yet to identify an exact location for its first facility, but it plans to hire &#8220;engineers, operations experts, and fleet coordinators,&#8221; to help &#8220;assemble and deploy our self-driving cars.&#8221;
<h2>Motor State</h2>
The news comes after General Motors laid off <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/business/gm-oshawa-plant/index.html">15 percent</a> of its salaried workers and closed five entire auto plants — including one in Michigan — in the U.S. and Canada in November.
The cars Waymo is planning to assemble are modified versions of the Fiat Chrysler vans and Jaguar Land Rovers that have been outfitted with advanced self-driving sensors and other hardware. Waymo is already using Hybrid <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-chrysler-pacifica-san-francisco">Chrysler Pacifica minivans</a> as part of its efforts to expand <a href="https://futurism.com/report-waymo-unveil-first-driverless-rideshare">autonomous ride-hailing services</a> in Phoenix, Arizona. It launched the world&#8217;s <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service">first self-driving taxi service</a> back in December, although its operations are limited to a suburb of Arizona&#8217;s capital.
It&#8217;s a big stepping stone for the future of autonomous vehicles — especially considering Michigan&#8217;s longstanding history with the automotive industry.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/22/waymo-to-build-self-driving-cars-in-michigan/?utm_campaign=homepage&amp;utm_medium=internal&amp;utm_source=dl">Waymo will build self-driving cars in Michigan</a> [Engadget] 

More on Waymo: <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service">Waymo Has Officially Launched a Self-Driving Taxi Service</a>

It plans to hire "engineers, operations experts, and fleet coordinators."

Waymo gets approval to open driverless car factory in Michigan

Driverless in Michigan

Waymo received approval from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to build a driverless car factory in the state.

Waymo Gets Approval to Open Driverless Car Factory in Michigan

It's the first factory in the world dedicated to self-driving cars.

<h2>&#8220;About to Accelerate&#8221;</h2>
Tesla appears ready to kick its vehicles&#8217; fully autonomous capabilities up a notch.
In an email to employees this week, <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/52099-tesla-elon-musk-calls-for-more-testers-ahead-of-full-self-driving-launch">obtained by Inverse</a>, CEO Elon Musk pledged that Tesla&#8217;s fully autonomous driving system was &#8220;about to accelerate significantly.&#8221;
Musk <a href="https://mashable.com/2017/10/03/tesla-model-3-production-woes-analysis/#rqNHvgXiomqf">hasn&#8217;t always delivered</a> on his ambitious public promises, but the email signals that he is positioning himself against the autonomous car hype trough — pushing for a future in which self-driving cars are a key aspect of transportation and not a glorified cruise control for luxury models.
<h2>Hype Trough</h2>
Just a few years ago, a growing number of experimental autonomous cars on public roads gave the impression that the arrival of safe and reliable self-driving vehicles was only a matter of time.
But a growing sense of the remaining engineering challenges — not to mention the March 2018 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/20/us/self-driving-uber-pedestrian-killed.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">death of a pedestrian</a> run down by a self-driving Uber vehicle — have chipped away at that confidence.
The evidence that self-driving vehicle manufacturers aren&#8217;t always upfront with the public hasn&#8217;t helped either. An excoriating October <a href="http://newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/did-uber-steal-googles-intellectual-property">New Yorker investigation</a> into the early years of the Google self-driving research project that eventually became Waymo found that the company had performed reckless road tests early in its work — and hadn&#8217;t always reported accidents.
<h2>Road Ahead</h2>
Musk&#8217;s promise to accelerate fully autonomous research, along with a call for more internal Tesla testers for the program, run precisely counter to that narrative. That&#8217;s not surprising: the eccentric Musk is known for <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/elon-musk-billion-dollar-crusade-to-stop-ai-space-x">imagining futures that are still years away</a> — and using his wealth and influence to attempt to steer history toward or away from them.
Maybe the real question is political, rather than technological: Whether the relentless will of one person enough to pull an entire industry onto a different track.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/52099-tesla-elon-musk-calls-for-more-testers-ahead-of-full-self-driving-launch">Elon Musk Calls for More Testers Ahead of Tesla Full Self-Driving Launch</a> [Inverse]
More on Tesla: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-europe-tesla-superchargers">Elon Musk Pledges Tesla Superchargers For All of Europe Next Year</a>

Maybe the real question is whether the relentless will of one person is enough to pull an entire industry onto a different track.

Musk: Tesla's fully autonomous capabilities "about to accelerate"

Acceleration Station

Tesla CEO Elon Musk pledged this week that the electric car maker is about to kick its fully autonomous self-driving vehicle ambitions up a notch.

Musk: Tesla’s Fully Autonomous Capabilities “About to Accelerate”

In an internal email, the mercurial CEO called for more internal testers.

<h2>Contract, Schmontract</h2>
Michael Richardson is one lucky guy.
In mid-September, self-driving car company Waymo accepted the technologist and entrepreneur into its <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-ride-hailing-service-launching-soon-fully-autonomous-cars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">early rider program</a> in Phoenix, Arizona.
Like all riders, Richardson signed a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), a legal contract forbidding him from talking about his experience as a Waymo rider. Now he&#8217;s getting away with violating that contract, and what he had to say answers several key questions about the service — while leaving many others unanswered.
<h2>Good Guy Waymo</h2>
On Wednesday, Richardson agreed to an <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/12/we-finally-talked-to-an-actual-waymo-passenger-heres-what-he-told-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Ars Technica, telling the publication that Waymo had freed him from his NDA. It turns out he was mistaken — Richardson was still legally bound to keep quiet about the rides he&#8217;d taken in the company&#8217;s autonomous vehicles.
Nevertheless, Waymo agreed to let Ars run its story. And in a move that surely caused Richardson to breathe a huge sigh of relief, it also promised it wouldn&#8217;t pursue legal action against him.
<h2>First Impression</h2>
That bit of goodwill on the part of Waymo should temper some of the not-so-positive news in the Ars story.
As part of the early rider program, Richarson took two round-trip rides with Waymo: one on September 28 and another on October 6. During his interview, the Waymo rider noted multiple limitations with the service, including a small coverage area, a higher cost than Uber and Lyft, and restricted pick-up and drop-off locations. He also claimed his vehicles took longer routes than necessary to avoid a freeway and a tricky left turn.
Perhaps most troubling, he also initially told Ars that he saw safety drivers take control of the vehicles on multiple occasions. According to Waymo&#8217;s records, however, a safety driver only took over once, and Richardson later admitted that he may have misremembered.
<h2>More to Come</h2>
Of course, if Richardson got one part of his story wrong, there&#8217;s a chance the rest of it isn&#8217;t airtight. He also hasn&#8217;t ridden with Waymo since it launched its commercial service, <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Waymo One</a>, meaning the company could have already worked out some of the kinks he noticed two-plus months ago.
Waymo does plan to <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/waymo-one-google-self-driving-car-project/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lift the NDA restriction</a> on riders who transition to Waymo One, so we should be getting a wider range of views on the company&#8217;s vehicles in the near future.
Still, this is our first look inside one of Waymo&#8217;s cars from the perspective of a Waymo rider, and it certainly wasn&#8217;t all negative.
&#8220;I&#8217;m impressed by what the vehicle can do and how well it gets around,&#8221; Richardson told Ars. &#8220;It&#8217;s very, very impressive.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/12/we-finally-talked-to-an-actual-waymo-passenger-heres-what-he-told-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We Finally Talked to an Actual Waymo Passenger—here’s What He Told Us</a> [Ars Technica]
More on Waymo One: <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Waymo Has Officially Launched a Self-Driving Taxi Service</a>

He thought Waymo had lifted his nondisclosure agreement. It hadn't.

A Waymo rider talked publicly about the service — even though he wasn't supposed to

Oops

A Waymo rider has inadvertently violated his nondisclosure agreement to talk about his experience riding in the company's self-driving cars.

A Waymo Rider Talked Publicly About the Service — Even Though He Wasn’t Supposed To

This guy spilled the beans.

<h2>Road Rage</h2>
The streets are becoming unsafe for self-driving cars. Police have responded to &#8220;dozens of calls regarding people threatening and harassing Waymo vans,&#8221; Arizona Central <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/tech/2018/12/11/waymo-self-driving-vehicles-face-harassment-road-rage-phoenix-area/2198220002/">reports</a>.
There have at least 21 incidents, according to the news report, in which safety drivers — human &#8220;passengers&#8221; behind the wheel, assigned to oversee the driving of each of Waymo&#8217;s autonomous vehicles — were harassed in some way or another.
The news comes after the Alphabet-owned company <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service">recently launched</a> the first-ever self-driving taxi service for paying customers in Arizona.
<h2>Throwing Rocks</h2>
The abusive behavior includes motorists yelling at Waymo&#8217;s cars, throwing rocks at them, or slashing their tires. There was even an incident where a bearded man pulled a handgun at a Waymo safety driver.
&#8220;We believe a key element of local engagement has been our ongoing work with the communities in which we drive, including Arizona law enforcement and first responders,” reads a <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/tech/2018/12/11/waymo-self-driving-vehicles-face-harassment-road-rage-phoenix-area/2198220002/">statement from Waymo</a>, sent to Arizona Central. 
Safety drivers are trained to handle these kinds of situations, and are instructed to call Waymo before 911, depending on the situation, according to <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/tech/2018/12/11/waymo-self-driving-vehicles-face-harassment-road-rage-phoenix-area/2198220002/">police reports</a>.
<h2>Hating the Machine</h2>
So why all the hate? A lot of the reported incidents involved people who were heavily intoxicated or, in the instance involving the handgun, suffering from dementia.
But why Waymo in particular? A lot of the discontent stems from Waymo&#8217;s position in the market as a company that&#8217;s planning on taking people&#8217;s jobs, according to information technologies lecturer at Arizona State University Phil Simon.
&#8220;This stuff is happening fast and a lot of people are concerned that technology is going to run them out of a job,&#8221; Simon <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/tech/2018/12/11/waymo-self-driving-vehicles-face-harassment-road-rage-phoenix-area/2198220002/">told</a> Arizona Central.
&#8220;There are always winners and losers, and these are probably people who are afraid and this is a way for them to fight back in some small, futile way,&#8221; says Simon.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/tech/2018/12/11/waymo-self-driving-vehicles-face-harassment-road-rage-phoenix-area/2198220002/">A slashed tire, a pointed gun, bullies on the road: Why do Waymo self-driving vans get so much hate?</a> [Arizona Central] 

More on Waymo: <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-one-self-driving-taxi-service">Waymo Has Officially Launched a Self-Driving Taxi Service</a>

People Are Roadraging At Waymo's Self-Driving Cars

Rage against the Machine

Local Arizona news reports that there have been dozens of incidents of people abusing Waymo's autonomous cars, and threatening Waymo's safety drivers.

/Waymo