Waymo Will get Paralyzed By Venice Canal Parade

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In what appears to be a weekly version of “Bizarre Issues Occurring with Robotaxis,” a buddy of mine despatched me the next humorous clip of a Waymo robotaxi being stalled for 45 minutes attempting to cross a tiny bridge as a consequence of a Christmas canal boat parade going below the bridge.

In case you may’t see that, right here’s the textual content of what the poster wrote: “Venice, CA (DEC. 14. 2025) Your complete Venice neighborhood grew to become landlocked behind a frozen Waymo that suffered a protracted interval of sensor dysphoria. Actually tons of of townsfolk rallied collectively; attempting the whole lot of their energy to persuade the Waymo to cross over the bridge. Studies from the scene point out that the Waymo blocked the bridge for 45 minutes or longer.”

Afterward, he/she wrote, “It will transfer ahead after which surrender and transfer again after which make one other try ahead after which surrender and transfer again.”

It seems to me that the bridge is so low that the Waymo thought of every of these little boats going below the bridge to be potential automobiles or different obstacles/dangers. There have been another theories within the feedback, however I don’t suppose they had been right. There have been additionally numerous Tesla followers slamming Waymo for this, generally aggressively, exhibiting how tribal this matter has gotten.

Does this matter? Is it a giant drawback? I’d say no and no — higher protected than sorry, as they are saying, and Waymo will most likely give you an answer for edge circumstances like this. Nonetheless, it’s clearly a bizarre situation the place robotaxis have been proven to be worse than people. It received’t be the final or the worst such case both. Nonetheless, in internet, Waymo robotaxis are wanting superb and useful.