Austin Woman Says She Regularly Cuts Off Waymos. It’s Not Just Her—Are They Making Us Worse Drivers?
"I don’t care that you were at the stop sign first, Waymo, I’m going.”
An Austin-based woman said she loves seeing Waymo vehicles on the road—not because she’s a fan of autonomous driving technology but because she doesn’t have to necessarily adhere to all the rules of the road whenever she sees one at an intersection.
TikTok user Riley Rojas (@higuysitmeriley) uploaded a video describing a scenario where she takes advantage of the autonomous vehicle’s safety protocols.
According to Rojas, Waymos usually wait longer when idling at a stop sign, which she uses to her advantage. “I love seeing a Waymo on the street because even if it’s not my right of way, I’ll still go first. ‘Cause I know that automatic car is gonna stop,” she says. “I know those safety mechanisms are gonna make a stop. I don’t care that you were at the stop sign first, Waymo, I’m going.”
Waymos Exercising Extra Caution
Rojas isn’t the only person who’s described Waymo’s autonomous driving as being intrinsically timid. Tech blog Geek Mamas writes that some have said riding in one of Google’s autonomous taxis is “surprisingly smooth and, ironically, more cautious than human drivers.”
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The author of the blog shared their own anecdotal experience as a Waymo passenger, saying the cars “wait a few extra seconds at stop signs and yield generously at crosswalks.” Additionally, they mentioned that their car “did follow all the rules and managed to carefully navigate through an intersection blocked with traffic.”
Another Waymo customer, Matt Bell, heaped praise on the service in this blog post. In it, he shares what he’s learned after spending 130 hours total in its autonomous rides. Bell says that “the driving style is smooth and reasonable.” He did add that Waymo commutes often take longer, which is a criticism other customers of the service have shared. Bell didn’t seem too perturbed by this, as he said he gets work done on his laptop during the ride.
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Do Waymos Always Stop for Other Drivers?
While Rojas didn’t mince words when it comes to the driving practices of Waymo vehicles, others had differing opinions. Like this Reddit user who recorded one of the autonomous cars directly turning at a stop sign after waiting behind another driver. They appended a simple description for the title of their post: “Waymo running a stop sign.”
Commenters who replied to the Reddit post believed that they’ve seen shifts in how Waymos drive. “The AI learned how to drive like an Austin driver,” one quipped. Another stated in the thread: “I live in the Eastside so I see a lot of Waymos and my general observation is that they have gotten 15% more aggressive in how they drive,” they wrote.
Another Austinite concurred: “I came here to say the very same thing. They run through stop signs on the east side all of the time.”
Are Waymos Making People Worse Drivers?
Several other Reddit commenters chalked up the perceived shift in Waymo driving protocols to adaptive driving patterns. “Look where the [expletive] things had to learn to drive. They’ve just finally gotten calibrated correctly to our [expletive] drivers,” they wrote. Similarly, someone else commented: “worst place to hone in the algorithm.”
In Rojas’s case, it appears that capitalizing on Waymo’s penchant for safety has reinforced poor driving habits. But according to others, they believe that these vehicles are adapting to already awful driving practices.
InsideEVs has reached out to Waymo for further comment on how it develops its autonomous driving functionality. We've also reached out to Rojas via email for additional information.
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