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Comment by jasonthorsness | Hacker News Reader

I've ridden a Waymo (in Phoenix) and it felt very safe. The few times I've tried FSD in Tesla (~1 year ago) it did pretty well, but I had to intervene a few times, HOWEVER - I think part of the problem is I am worried about my responsibility, damage to the vehicle, and being thought of as "that guy" by other drivers (for example if it takes too long at a four-way stop waiting for the other car when it's actually our right-of-way). If I were not responsible for the car, as in a Waymo, I would probably let the Tesla FSD do its thing with less micro-management and it would do fine. I'll try the Robotaxi when it arrives.

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The reason I will never get into such a vehicle is not necessarily because I know it to be unsafe— but rather because the arrogance of the people who created that technology means that they probably didn’t bother to test it well.

Waymo is magic. I’ve been in a rented Tesla and the FSD was wildly unpredictable. Good enough 99% of the time. But sure to cause a crash in the edge cases. Never experienced that in Waymo.

I'll add that when I am walking or cycling anywhere, I feel a lot safer around Waymos.

Just yesterday in SF I nearly collided on my bike with a human SUV driver (likely an Uber), who pulled out impatiently into the bike lane to pass a Waymo which was stopped at a light waiting for a pedestrian to finish crossing (against the signal).

Right this has always been and continues to be the problem with Tesla's solutions. 99% good enough / 1% terrifying is not a good way to travel 10k miles/year. Even 99.99% / 0.01% is insufficient.

One tell - the amount of FSD guys that will quietly admit, if you ask, that their wife won't let them use it when she is in the car :-). Certainly my wife felt that way about AP/EAP in all its variations.

Women have a higher bar for technology, in that they expect it to actually work, not just be a neat idea.

Anecdotal, but in the last few months my wife went from not wanting me to turn on AP/FSD to now using it for all her drives.

The v13 models feel like a massive improvement.

I've assumed that some part of Waymo's magic is in the curation of the maps and the on-the-ground details of a particular area.

We'll have to see if FSD can put up the same numbers with strict fencing to well-defined and well-maintained urban areas.

(I generally have at least one intervention per trip, but my daily commute takes me down some poorly maintained/semi-rural roads)

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