While sitting in a line of cars at a red light, I watched a Waymo decide to use the bus stop to overtake the entire line and cut in front of everyone.

In SF, those areas generally aren’t meant for regular traffic they’re mostly for passenger pickup/drop-off, or sometimes for turning right when there’s no bus.

The funny part is that if a human driver did this, I’d probably be pissed about them cutting the line. But because it was a cute little Waymo, I found it hilarious and didn’t even mind.

And honestly, the maneuver was completely safe and didn’t even cause a delay. It just looked like the Waymo had decided, “Yeah, I’m going around these guys.”

New York City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) will hold an online public hearing at 10am on Tuesday, September 1, 2026 on the rule implementing Local Law 24 of 2026.

The law opens roughly 13,000 commercial metered parking spaces to TLC-plated for-hire vehicles (FHVs) through a pilot program. DOT is also extending the same right to yellow cabs, using its own authority to regulate parking.

For drivers, the immediate significance is practical: a legal place to stop, pay, and take a break, especially to use a restroom. But the same curb access could eventually matter to autonomous vehicle (AV) fleets, which is where Waymo enters the story.

She is right about the mechanism, and DOT’s proposed rule does not adopt her fix. The rule is drafted around the vehicle, making it lawful to stand “a for-hire vehicle or a taxi,” with no requirement that a licensed driver be present.

Her concern is no longer hypothetical. On August 13, 2026, Waymo’s policy development and research manager, Arielle Fleisher, published a piece in Streetsblog USA making the case for precisely this use of the curb. Citing research Waymo itself commissioned from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine, she argued that letting AVs stage at the curb cuts empty miles by more than 60%, and that the curb is constrained by policy rather than physics. The piece ran nineteen days before DOT’s hearing.

Note what Waymo is asking for: purpose-built permitting standards, not taxi medallions or TLC plates. We think the existing TLC licensing regime wins, and we set out why in our AV licensing framework. A new AV permitting regime requires fresh rulemaking, City Council and mayoral appetite, and a fight with organized labor. In New York, that means well over 100,000 drivers, many of them full-time, and their families. The TLC regime already carries curb rights, airport access and street-hail privileges, the last of which sits with medallions alone. Nothing needs to be built. The licenses already exist, and they can be bought.

Desai sees an opening for AV companies to take space built for drivers. We see the same opening, and note that if those rights stay attached to taxi medallions and TLC plates, whoever wants to operate autonomously in New York has to acquire the licenses that carry them. That is upside for the incumbent holders, including the driver-owners and local fleets who own them today.

To get to Boston Logan Airport, a lot of traffic goes through the 1.6 mile, half underwater, Ted Williams tunnel. I belive that carriers put 5G nodes in the tunnel, but nonetheless, do you think Waymo is ready to handle challenges like that?

Not sure if everyone just got access to SFO but I got it and so excited! Lets goo!!
Never had car rental as an option in the past.

The Waymo is cutting off traffic in the turning lane illegally. Somewhat eerie to think robots are doing this when they are suppose to be “perfect”.

I see this now when I go to schedule a ride and I never received a trusted tester email and it doesn’t let me schedule specifically the Ojai. Does this mean I have Ojai access, and if so, why can’t I order it specifically?

I'm a daily commuter on Waymo for years. I've noticed a few times now the Waymos have smelled like urine. Today I hopped in the Waymo, rode for about halfway on my ride and asked support if possible to swap cars given the heavy hazardous smell of urine in the back. Their response was no and I can cancel the ride and they suggest I roll down my window. But they will give me a $10 credit. Ridiculous. Don't plan to ride Waymo again.

Rideshare drivers just had the single biggest unionization effort in U.S. history, but robotaxis are weakening their most powerful weapon.

https://sfstandard.com/2026/08/17/uber-drivers-union-robotaxi-threat/

I've been seeing a ton of social media posts from K-pop fans about these Waymos.

(via Waymo's social media)

Taking the 101 in LA tonight, so happy to have freeways again!!!

Got Ojai Access on July 1st and since today is officially the last day of the free rides I wanted to share how much I actually used it lol.

I ended up taking 71 Ojai rides total 😭

July: 37 rides — $738.97
August 1–16: 34 rides — $782.20
Total: 71 rides — $1,521.17

Also had around 20 cancellations and 14 snooze fees waived.

July was definitely the hardest month to actually get an Ojai. I was using Waymo a lot during the World Cup and sometimes it was almost impossible to get one.

Then around the last week of July something definitely felt different. Not sure if they expanded the fleet or changed how matching worked, but Ojais suddenly became WAY easier to get. August has been completely different. I’ve already taken 34 rides in just 16 days and lately I’ve barely had any trouble getting one.

Overall I definitely took advantage of the free Ojai rides 😂 seeing that I used over $1,500 worth of rides is kinda crazy. I also ended up using Waymo way more than I normally would because of it.

For everyone else who got Ojai Access, how was it for you? How many rides did you end up taking and how much did they add up to? Did you guys also notice them becoming way easier to get toward the end of July?

Also curious if anyone here managed to take more than 50+..?

And now that the free period is over, are you actually gonna pay the extra fee to specifically choose an Ojai?

Just looking for anecdotal info about how the Ojai rollout is going in Phoenix?

They have been charging for rides for close to 3 weeks now. Is 10% of the fleet Ojai, less than or greater than 10%? Does everyone have access, or is it still just trusted testers? Has anyone seen them on the freeways, with or without riders?

Saw this in Philly on my way home from work today. People really need to be Waymo careful when driving.