Are there no freeways inside the geofence? Someone in the thread mentions that they will be adding freeways soon, so I understand it can't do those now.

Good point. Not sure what the status is in SF. They're working on it in Phoenix: https://waymo.com/blog/2024/01/from-surface-streets-to-freew...

There are freeways within the geofence in SF. My understanding is that Waymos will not drive on those freeways without a safety driver for now.

Freeway driving is easier than surface streets. Maybe merging in is the hard part.

You haven't driven on 101 in SF, I take it.

10 mph would be a great average speed, usually.

Based on my limited experience with Telsa model 3 FSD and my Toyota lane assist/radar cruise control, congested highways are the absolute sweet spot for self driving. Not much happening on the sides, and stop and go traffic being quite tedious for the human. It's happy to speed up and slow down over and over again.

well, in that case they should drive on 101 in the City. No pedestrians (normally) as you said.

Of course, if you have an accident there, you piss off a whole lot more people than you would on a surface street.

>101

never been. Is that the one from the phantom planet song?

101 connects San Diego to Seattle

YMMV greatly depending on time of day.

uh, in southern california there used to be an unspoken rule: if you can't pass the driver's test with freeway included, you go to NorCo and take the test there. No freeway - the hardest thing is the "parallel park and reverse" which is just being told prior "when you pull over, take as long as you need to get as parallel as you can to the curb, then just go in reverse, look over your shoulder, and don't touch the wheel." Well, that and you automatically fail if you hit a cow.

Freeways in CA aren't the worst in the country (lookin at you, TX), but they're still not easier than surface streets, especially during off-peak hours.

Can you expand a bit on why you feel freeway driving is "easier"? the only thing i can think of is you're much less likely to get into a head-on[0] collision.

[0] apply directly

There's fewer pedestrians that might or might not be about to step in front of the car. Less need to predict human actions. There's mostly no perpendicular intersections. Generally visibility is good, don't have to remember that there was a car getting ready to enter traffic behind the peach tree. No skate boarders.

In Redwood City (easiest dmv test route I know of), they ask you if you want freeway on the test, you say no and they cross off that whole section. The parallel parking section is done on a completely empty block and the only way to screw that up is to park blocking someone's driveway.

As to why freeway is easier: maybe not as a very new driver, but as soon as you're comfortable handling a car you can get on the freeway and the mental processing loop is much easier. Just follow the car ahead at a safe distance for the speed. Very little else, can be done with just half a brain while you think about other things.

Fuckups are substantially worse though

that's the key point. a crash at 5 mph is inconsequential next to a crash at 50 mph.

It's "easier", but if you screw up, the consequences are MUCH worse.

Also, when Waymos get confused on surface streets, they can just stop. Can't really do that on a freeway.