Mark Rober just set up one of the most interesting self-driving tests of 2025, and he did it by imitating Looney Tunes. The former NASA engineer and current YouTube mad scientist recreated the classic gag where Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel onto a wall to fool the Road Runner.
Only this time, the test subject wasn’t a cartoon bird… it was a self-driving Tesla Model Y.
The result? A full-speed, 40 MPH impact straight into the wall. Watch the video and tell us what you think!
I tried Waymo when I was visiting LA a few months ago. Genuinely terrific stuff.
I do not trust Teslas one bit though.
Tesla doesn’t use lidar for its sensing, living on the prayer that AI will just get good enough soon enough. Absolutely galaxy brained decision.
waymo’s have almost hit me like three times, and if i were slower, they would have. you are part of the problem. those are killing machines.
I’m surrounded by waymos every time I go out and I can tell you that if they “almost hit you” three times then that’s very likely a you problem – and a reason for more waymos, not fewer.
Anecdotally, only once have I been in a situation where I’ve said, “do better, robot” because I was slightly inconvenienced by it.
By the numbers there are very few waymo incidents compared to human drivers and those include waymos being hit by bicyclists who aren’t paying attention.
“if something almost does grievous bodily harm to you, we need more of it, keep playing those odds!”? that seems like a request for me to be harmed.
Again, based on experience, and the data, if you were exposed to “grievous bodily harm” then it seems like you should change something.
I don’t know you so I’m not going to suggest you’re making up how you feel about the situation but you definitely don’t sound like you’re expressing an accurate representation of reality.
have you ever been hit by a car? maybe try it sometime before you talk about this shit, because you’re being really casual, and I cannot stress how unpleasant an experience it is.
Uhh, think you could rephrase this so it doesn’t sound like you’re rooting for the Waymo in any Waymo-bicycle accident?
I’m not rooting for anyone in any collision. Everyone should pay attention and drive responsibly.
almost. Human driver would hit you in similar scenarios probably.
almost because I dodged.
If these vehicles don’t need to obey the procedural laws that are supposed to keep me safe, why should I refrain from smashing them with a hammer, or taking them apart and selling the pieces, or making cool sculptures out of them?
aside from being profoundly lazy, of course.
data > your personal anecdotes. Get real dude.
these companies do not provide data. they provide blatantly doctored ad copy.
and the engineers that design them have said there’s no way to make them follow traffic rules perfectly. that they do often sacrifice safety for efficiency when the choice can be made.
What are you even on about tin foil. Waymos are on the road - how is this data doctored? You can literally see that it’s safer than human driving in this exact environment.
how much do they pay you?
No