Yes it's amazing what they can do, but if after all this time they can't even react correctly in such a simple situation I really wonder if full self driving is feasible.
I don't know if you can extrapolate from "can't react correctly in such a simple situation" for a few reasons. Fristly, I will point out that car stopped, but the complaint was that it was little bit more jerky than preferred. Also, automated drivers will excel and fail at different scenarios. Imagine the other way around: Imagine if Waymo's tech was ready for all roads, and we were evaluating letting humans drive in manual. One could say things like:
"I saw a human apply the break suddenly on the highway because they were checking their mirrors for a lane change when the car in front of the slowed down. The human had a delayed reaction because they were checking their mirrors. An automated driver would be able to analyze the lane change, and the traffic in front of them at the same time. Also the reaction time of the automated system is superior than humans... so I wonder if human driving is feasible."
I think when comparing FSD, one needs to compare it to human driving at some percentile, and not perfection :).
And yet here we see that the car either has a very slow reaction time or doesn't understand how pedestrians move around. That's what concerning me. Looking at the video again maybe, maybe the car thought the cart would roll further on the road when making the corner? That would justify the sudden reaction.
It's also the only interaction with a pedestrian in the video and I see no interactions with bikes. I'd say that if they were able to deal with those they would show it.
To me, it looks like the car rightfully stopped because it assumed the person was going to cross the parking lot.
The way it reacted it IMO just looks like clueless new driver.
Looking at that video seems pretty clear he's not going to cross. I'd expect at least some eye contact. If it were more ambiguous, as a driver, I'd probably gently slow down do I could stop quickly if circumstances demanded.
The computer will choose the action that minimizes the probability of harm. And they have more sensors and data in this situation.
That said, there is also the factor of the car brake system. My hybrid car has a fairly rough transition from regenerative brake to the friction one which sometimes results in such sudden stops