Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
@level4isgoinggreat.bsky.social
Inspired by the amazing @web3isgoinggreat.com, this account will document companies claiming they're achieving level 4 autonomous driving
Urban traffic is a human conversation, not a computer protocol.
The revolution will not be on autopilot.
Urban traffic is a human conversation, not a computer protocol.
The revolution will not be on autopilot.
Pinned
The revolution will not be on autopilot.
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
"Waymo boosters try to downplay the need for such an investigation...but I think their viewpoints misapprehend the value provided. And those trying to argue the incidents are unworthy of NTSB’s attention simply because nobody has gotten killed (yet) need to get a clue."
substack.com/@philkoopman...
substack.com/@philkoopman...
NTSB Investigates Waymo School Bus Incidents
What does this mean, and what might we do to improve safety while the process plays out?
substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:21 AM
"Waymo boosters try to downplay the need for such an investigation...but I think their viewpoints misapprehend the value provided. And those trying to argue the incidents are unworthy of NTSB’s attention simply because nobody has gotten killed (yet) need to get a clue."
substack.com/@philkoopman...
substack.com/@philkoopman...
'It’s a major reversal after over a decade of Musk making yearly — and flat-out wrong — predictions of achieving fully autonomous, or Level 5, driving “next year.”'
futurism.com/future-socie...
futurism.com/future-socie...
Tesla Kills Autopilot After Storm of Criticism, Paywalls Basic Features
In light of plummeting sales and shrinking profits, Tesla has killed its Autopilot suite in the United States and Canada for good.
futurism.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:11 AM
'It’s a major reversal after over a decade of Musk making yearly — and flat-out wrong — predictions of achieving fully autonomous, or Level 5, driving “next year.”'
futurism.com/future-socie...
futurism.com/future-socie...
Of course, they plan to do this for robotaxis and AV's, using the vast corpus of uncritical golden-age SF that fanboys love and LLM's like Gemini are trained on.
The idea it shouldn't take longer to draft a Federal regulation than it takes to get a pizza delivered is of course insane, not that that would give this admin pause.
New "autonomous vehicle" regulations are "one of my top priorities," US DOT Sec Duffy, April, 2025.
New "autonomous vehicle" regulations are "one of my top priorities," US DOT Sec Duffy, April, 2025.
The @usdot.bsky.social, which oversees the safety of airplanes, cars and pipelines, plans to use Google Gemini to draft new regulations. “We don’t need the perfect rule,” said DOT’s top lawyer. “We want good enough.”
January 26, 2026 at 8:59 PM
Of course, they plan to do this for robotaxis and AV's, using the vast corpus of uncritical golden-age SF that fanboys love and LLM's like Gemini are trained on.
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
The idea it shouldn't take longer to draft a Federal regulation than it takes to get a pizza delivered is of course insane, not that that would give this admin pause.
New "autonomous vehicle" regulations are "one of my top priorities," US DOT Sec Duffy, April, 2025.
New "autonomous vehicle" regulations are "one of my top priorities," US DOT Sec Duffy, April, 2025.
The @usdot.bsky.social, which oversees the safety of airplanes, cars and pipelines, plans to use Google Gemini to draft new regulations. “We don’t need the perfect rule,” said DOT’s top lawyer. “We want good enough.”
Government by AI? Trump Administration Plans to Write Regulations Using Artificial Intelligence
The Transportation Department, which oversees the safety of airplanes, cars and pipelines, plans to use Google Gemini to draft new regulations. “We don’t need the perfect rule,” said DOT’s top lawyer....
www.propublica.org
January 26, 2026 at 8:31 PM
The idea it shouldn't take longer to draft a Federal regulation than it takes to get a pizza delivered is of course insane, not that that would give this admin pause.
New "autonomous vehicle" regulations are "one of my top priorities," US DOT Sec Duffy, April, 2025.
New "autonomous vehicle" regulations are "one of my top priorities," US DOT Sec Duffy, April, 2025.
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
"State regulators should reconsider their 'let it rip' approach to autonomous vehicle licensure and regulation. A human driver who violated school bus safety road rules dozens of times would likely have lost their license, but there has been no discernable state regulatory consequence to Waymo."
NTSB Investigates Waymo School Bus Incidents
What does this mean, and what might we do to improve safety while the process plays out?
substack.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:49 PM
"State regulators should reconsider their 'let it rip' approach to autonomous vehicle licensure and regulation. A human driver who violated school bus safety road rules dozens of times would likely have lost their license, but there has been no discernable state regulatory consequence to Waymo."
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
We’re gonna make it after all
On a downtown street in Minneapolis, as people stream out from the massive march, Mary Tyler Moore says “fuck ice.”
January 23, 2026 at 11:14 PM
We’re gonna make it after all
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
"Waymo founder John Krafcik made headlines this week with claims that Tesla’s...approach to Full Self Driving was 'myopic,' but the self-driving taxis from the company he helped found keep illegally passing school buses – and putting kids at risk" Joe Borrás @ Elektek
electrek.co/2026/01/21/w...
electrek.co/2026/01/21/w...
Waymo founder trashes Tesla safety as Waymos illegally pass school buses
As founder trash-talks Tesla, self-driving taxis from Waymo keep illegally passing school buses – and putting kids at risk.
electrek.co
January 23, 2026 at 11:24 PM
"Waymo founder John Krafcik made headlines this week with claims that Tesla’s...approach to Full Self Driving was 'myopic,' but the self-driving taxis from the company he helped found keep illegally passing school buses – and putting kids at risk" Joe Borrás @ Elektek
electrek.co/2026/01/21/w...
electrek.co/2026/01/21/w...
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
"Waymo car stuck at Brickell key lol."
OP: tiktok.cubanomiami69
Brickell Key Dr, Miami
Waymo robots can't reliably obey traffic control devices. A safety driver would fix this in seconds. Waymo has never explained why their robots and telops often fail to handle such ordinary/routine conditions.
OP: tiktok.cubanomiami69
Brickell Key Dr, Miami
Waymo robots can't reliably obey traffic control devices. A safety driver would fix this in seconds. Waymo has never explained why their robots and telops often fail to handle such ordinary/routine conditions.
January 21, 2026 at 4:48 PM
"Waymo car stuck at Brickell key lol."
OP: tiktok.cubanomiami69
Brickell Key Dr, Miami
Waymo robots can't reliably obey traffic control devices. A safety driver would fix this in seconds. Waymo has never explained why their robots and telops often fail to handle such ordinary/routine conditions.
OP: tiktok.cubanomiami69
Brickell Key Dr, Miami
Waymo robots can't reliably obey traffic control devices. A safety driver would fix this in seconds. Waymo has never explained why their robots and telops often fail to handle such ordinary/routine conditions.
“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
- Richard Feynman, the Rogers Commission Report into the Challenger Crash, Appendix F, 1986.
(HT Phil Koopman)
- Richard Feynman, the Rogers Commission Report into the Challenger Crash, Appendix F, 1986.
(HT Phil Koopman)
January 21, 2026 at 4:59 PM
“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
- Richard Feynman, the Rogers Commission Report into the Challenger Crash, Appendix F, 1986.
(HT Phil Koopman)
- Richard Feynman, the Rogers Commission Report into the Challenger Crash, Appendix F, 1986.
(HT Phil Koopman)
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
yeah I don't have access to the full article I just wanted to share the headline and subhead
Officials showed off a robo-bus in D.C. It got hit by a Tesla driver.
A Beep automated shuttle bus displayed by the U.S. Department of Transportation in D.C. this week got into a collision with a driver on H Street.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 16, 2026 at 8:42 PM
yeah I don't have access to the full article I just wanted to share the headline and subhead
The Phantom Braker strikes again
A Waymo robot stopped for no good/apparent reason:
Powell at Post, Union Square, San Francisco
Didn't appear to be waiting for a pickup, which wouldn't be legal there as it is a No Stopping Anytime zone.
Another Waymo robot went around it. Robots abhor a vacuum.
OP: tiktok.ricosf
Powell at Post, Union Square, San Francisco
Didn't appear to be waiting for a pickup, which wouldn't be legal there as it is a No Stopping Anytime zone.
Another Waymo robot went around it. Robots abhor a vacuum.
OP: tiktok.ricosf
January 14, 2026 at 11:26 PM
The Phantom Braker strikes again
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
Another Waymo dooring by another illegally stopped Waymo robot:
100 block of Sacramento St, San Francisco
Note the No Stopping Anytime sign next to the doored SUV.
Will Waymo's NHTSA crash report omit that inculpatory detail even though it endangered passengers?
OP: x.901cali
100 block of Sacramento St, San Francisco
Note the No Stopping Anytime sign next to the doored SUV.
Will Waymo's NHTSA crash report omit that inculpatory detail even though it endangered passengers?
OP: x.901cali
January 13, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Another Waymo dooring by another illegally stopped Waymo robot:
100 block of Sacramento St, San Francisco
Note the No Stopping Anytime sign next to the doored SUV.
Will Waymo's NHTSA crash report omit that inculpatory detail even though it endangered passengers?
OP: x.901cali
100 block of Sacramento St, San Francisco
Note the No Stopping Anytime sign next to the doored SUV.
Will Waymo's NHTSA crash report omit that inculpatory detail even though it endangered passengers?
OP: x.901cali
Waymo scolded by judge after robotaxi company refuses to discuss details from power outage
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/w...
archive.is/iuxot
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/w...
archive.is/iuxot
January 13, 2026 at 6:02 AM
Waymo scolded by judge after robotaxi company refuses to discuss details from power outage
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/w...
archive.is/iuxot
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/w...
archive.is/iuxot
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
Yet another (72+) Wrong Way Waymo:
La Brea Ave by Pico, LA
Waymo robots keep forcing their way through multiple lanes of oncoming traffic for no good reason. The parking lot it appears to be trying to enter has another entrance on Pico.
Bad routing & dangerous driving.
OP: tiktok.discogatorade
La Brea Ave by Pico, LA
Waymo robots keep forcing their way through multiple lanes of oncoming traffic for no good reason. The parking lot it appears to be trying to enter has another entrance on Pico.
Bad routing & dangerous driving.
OP: tiktok.discogatorade
January 12, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Yet another (72+) Wrong Way Waymo:
La Brea Ave by Pico, LA
Waymo robots keep forcing their way through multiple lanes of oncoming traffic for no good reason. The parking lot it appears to be trying to enter has another entrance on Pico.
Bad routing & dangerous driving.
OP: tiktok.discogatorade
La Brea Ave by Pico, LA
Waymo robots keep forcing their way through multiple lanes of oncoming traffic for no good reason. The parking lot it appears to be trying to enter has another entrance on Pico.
Bad routing & dangerous driving.
OP: tiktok.discogatorade
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
Two videos of a Waymo robot that drove onto (car prohibited) light rail tracks, then stopped, then dropped off a passenger and/or the passenger exited, then backed out into an intersection to escape the light rail tracks:
S Central Ave at Southern, Phoenix, Arizona
OP: tiktok.luisito6987
S Central Ave at Southern, Phoenix, Arizona
OP: tiktok.luisito6987
January 7, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Two videos of a Waymo robot that drove onto (car prohibited) light rail tracks, then stopped, then dropped off a passenger and/or the passenger exited, then backed out into an intersection to escape the light rail tracks:
S Central Ave at Southern, Phoenix, Arizona
OP: tiktok.luisito6987
S Central Ave at Southern, Phoenix, Arizona
OP: tiktok.luisito6987
Hoboken, right across the river from NYC, is a real-world demonstration of one of the points in the piece. For eight years, zero traffic deaths through their incredibly cheap Vision Zero program. As the tech bros like to say, all you need to do is scale it.
Sorry, but triumphant claims about autonomous vehicle safety are wildly exaggerated.
It's an open question whether today’s self-driving cars are any safer than those driven by humans.
And if reducing crashes is the goal, that isn’t even the right question.
My deep dive, in Bloomberg 🧵
It's an open question whether today’s self-driving cars are any safer than those driven by humans.
And if reducing crashes is the goal, that isn’t even the right question.
My deep dive, in Bloomberg 🧵
We Still Don’t Know if Robotaxis Are Safer Than Human Drivers
And even if self-driving technology proves to be less dangerous, there are many better ways to improve traffic safety and prevent fatal crashes.
www.bloomberg.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Hoboken, right across the river from NYC, is a real-world demonstration of one of the points in the piece. For eight years, zero traffic deaths through their incredibly cheap Vision Zero program. As the tech bros like to say, all you need to do is scale it.
Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates the broken clock principle: he's right about robotaxis being wrong for urban areas, but it's not because "they don't make mistakes."
It's because they plagiarized every human mistake. He should be familiar with that concept.
www.azcentral.com/story/opinio...
It's because they plagiarized every human mistake. He should be familiar with that concept.
www.azcentral.com/story/opinio...
He ran circles around a Waymo. And proved they'll never work in big cities | Opinion
Waymo has a 'perfection' problem, as author Malcom Gladwell describes it. That's bad news for self-driving cars but good news for the rest us.
www.azcentral.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:27 AM
Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates the broken clock principle: he's right about robotaxis being wrong for urban areas, but it's not because "they don't make mistakes."
It's because they plagiarized every human mistake. He should be familiar with that concept.
www.azcentral.com/story/opinio...
It's because they plagiarized every human mistake. He should be familiar with that concept.
www.azcentral.com/story/opinio...
Waymos drove into bodies of water in 2025, if you include floodwaters in Phoenix.
Let's be bold, as Waymo approaches the average human driver's vehicle-miles between fatalities for their entire fleet:
"Waymo kills somebody"
"Tesla T-bones a schoolbus"
"Zoox incinerates a firetruck"
Let's be bold, as Waymo approaches the average human driver's vehicle-miles between fatalities for their entire fleet:
"Waymo kills somebody"
"Tesla T-bones a schoolbus"
"Zoox incinerates a firetruck"
Just under the wire
January 7, 2026 at 5:06 AM
Waymos drove into bodies of water in 2025, if you include floodwaters in Phoenix.
Let's be bold, as Waymo approaches the average human driver's vehicle-miles between fatalities for their entire fleet:
"Waymo kills somebody"
"Tesla T-bones a schoolbus"
"Zoox incinerates a firetruck"
Let's be bold, as Waymo approaches the average human driver's vehicle-miles between fatalities for their entire fleet:
"Waymo kills somebody"
"Tesla T-bones a schoolbus"
"Zoox incinerates a firetruck"
We've covered pretty much every one of the points made in this article. It's a great overview of the AV bubble.
Sorry, but triumphant claims about autonomous vehicle safety are wildly exaggerated.
It's an open question whether today’s self-driving cars are any safer than those driven by humans.
And if reducing crashes is the goal, that isn’t even the right question.
My deep dive, in Bloomberg 🧵
It's an open question whether today’s self-driving cars are any safer than those driven by humans.
And if reducing crashes is the goal, that isn’t even the right question.
My deep dive, in Bloomberg 🧵
We Still Don’t Know if Robotaxis Are Safer Than Human Drivers
And even if self-driving technology proves to be less dangerous, there are many better ways to improve traffic safety and prevent fatal crashes.
www.bloomberg.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:52 AM
We've covered pretty much every one of the points made in this article. It's a great overview of the AV bubble.
Reposted by Level 4 Autonomous Driving Is Going Great
Another video of this Waymo robot was posted today. It starts w the robot ~3 feet forward of where it was stopped in the previous video. Then it begins to drive into the intersection, prob telops assisted.
"stayed there for over 20 minutes and didn’t let the fire truck by"
OP: tiktok.lay_zee_beach
"stayed there for over 20 minutes and didn’t let the fire truck by"
OP: tiktok.lay_zee_beach
January 5, 2026 at 5:24 AM
Another video of this Waymo robot was posted today. It starts w the robot ~3 feet forward of where it was stopped in the previous video. Then it begins to drive into the intersection, prob telops assisted.
"stayed there for over 20 minutes and didn’t let the fire truck by"
OP: tiktok.lay_zee_beach
"stayed there for over 20 minutes and didn’t let the fire truck by"
OP: tiktok.lay_zee_beach
January 3, 2026 at 9:24 PM
It's great that it didn't classify it as caution tape and barrel into it.
Important to note that anything the Waymo Drive hasn't been trained on, like a new bicycle design, will need hard-coded rules that use sensor fusion to determine what the Driver will do. Will it recognize it as an obstacle?
Important to note that anything the Waymo Drive hasn't been trained on, like a new bicycle design, will need hard-coded rules that use sensor fusion to determine what the Driver will do. Will it recognize it as an obstacle?
Waymo robot checking out a horse in Atlanta.
It may have stopped so close and at an angle to give its front left sensors a good look or >100 looks depending on their frame rate.
OP: tiktok.@cowboyatheart82
It may have stopped so close and at an angle to give its front left sensors a good look or >100 looks depending on their frame rate.
OP: tiktok.@cowboyatheart82
December 31, 2025 at 5:35 PM
It's great that it didn't classify it as caution tape and barrel into it.
Important to note that anything the Waymo Drive hasn't been trained on, like a new bicycle design, will need hard-coded rules that use sensor fusion to determine what the Driver will do. Will it recognize it as an obstacle?
Important to note that anything the Waymo Drive hasn't been trained on, like a new bicycle design, will need hard-coded rules that use sensor fusion to determine what the Driver will do. Will it recognize it as an obstacle?
The Waymo reminds me of a cat I once had, which would stare at a filled bathtub in fascination and helplessness.
At least 2 Waymo robots got stuck due to forecast flooding in San Francisco, this one w a safety driver:
Geary at Fillmore, San Francisco
Notice the human drivers adapted and learned in realtime from each other, unlike the World's Most Stuck Robot.
OP: reddit.oochiewallyWallyserb
Geary at Fillmore, San Francisco
Notice the human drivers adapted and learned in realtime from each other, unlike the World's Most Stuck Robot.
OP: reddit.oochiewallyWallyserb
December 27, 2025 at 5:14 PM
The Waymo reminds me of a cat I once had, which would stare at a filled bathtub in fascination and helplessness.