— Overview
This is one writer’s view of self-driving cars, not a market report. Waymo, the writer says, uses lidar and pre-drawn maps, is safer on set routes, moves more slowly but accurately, already runs something like a taxi, and has supply contracts with UPS and Walmart; it fits buses, subways, and repeated delivery. Tesla can go on unfamiliar roads, but the work is still incomplete. After an acquaintance’s Tesla in cold weather left only about 80 percent of its energy usable, the writer rented an electric car.
Bright reflections, cloudy weather, and a dark night are named as causes of accidents; who is responsible, the camera or the radar, is left unclear. An accident-free future, the writer says, is not close.
— Contents and key concepts
Mapped routes, and roads that are still unfinished
The writer sets two pictures beside each other. Waymo uses lidar and maps drawn in advance, and is safer on routes that have already been set. It moves more slowly, the writer says, but accurately. It already runs something like a taxi, and has supply contracts with UPS and Walmart. For buses, subways, and delivery that repeats the same path, the writer sees it as a fit. Tesla, by contrast, can go on roads it has not met before, but the writer still calls that work incomplete.
The view is personal as well as technical. After an acquaintance’s Tesla, in cold weather, left only about 80 percent of its energy usable, the writer rented an electric car. No later official market shares, and no later official safety counts, are added here. The comparison stays with what the writer saw and thought.
Who is responsible, and who would own a car
Bright reflections, cloudy weather, and a dark night are named as causes of accidents. Who bears responsibility in those cases, the camera or the radar, is left unclear. The writer also raises hacking, an attack at the moment of an update, privacy, and the trolley problem. The sentence that closes the hope is plain: an accident-free future is not close.
On ownership, the writer agrees that fewer people may keep a car of their own. The middle class, already paying tax, fuel, and parking, would feel that change more than owners of classic cars who keep a driver. Other pictures follow: cars that work at night in someone else’s service; limits on where they may go, like the zones already used for kickboards; big data and blockchain; and the ordinary time of a kindergarten drop-off. Unmanned taxis, in the writer’s view, may reduce a driver’s refusal, bargaining over a fare, and crime tied to taxis. Those are hopes and worries, not official forecasts, and they are left as the writer stated them.
Sources
- one writer’s comparison of Waymo and Tesla self-driving cars, including lidar and pre-mapped routes, supply contracts with UPS and Walmart, a personal note on usable energy in cold weather, accident causes, and the judgment that an accident-free future is not close.
Last updated: 14 November 2026
Refund policy
- Change of mind / refund requested after partial use / more than 7 days after purchase
◆ Exceptions
- File errors / cannot download or open the file
◆ How to request a refund: send a 1:1 inquiry via Customer Service at the top