By Yvonne Vávra
It took me years to learn how to move like New York moves. Before the city, I just walked. Forward, steady, unchallenged. Not anymore. On an Upper West Side street, you’ve got to weave your way between a tree and a brownstone, or a trash bag and someone wrist-deep in nachos at a sidewalk café. All the while, you’re dancing around strollers, dogs, and whatever else decides to cut in, while tree roots and rats quietly undo the pavement beneath you.
On the avenues—especially near a subway station—it’s go time. You’re dropped into a video game, and only razor-sharp focus and split-second reflexes can get you to the next level. Challenges come flying at you: Upper West Siders darting around corners, delivery bikes, smartphone zombies, tired tourists, toddlers in strollers, big personalities, tiny dogs. You’re dodging, yielding, pivoting. Nothing beats the rush of owning the chaos and coming out unscathed.
And now, AI wants to join the circus. Self-driving cars are rolling into New York—just eight of them, courtesy of Waymo, taking their first supervised spins in a pilot program. One was recently spotted on the Upper West Side, and reading about it stirred up my usual cocktail of curiosity and existential dread. I’m all for change, but when it shows up, I’m wired to meet it kicking and screaming. How many professional drivers will lose their livelihoods? Will Waymo’s profits trickle back to the city in any way? Could these cars get hacked and send my helpless butt straight to Jersey? What if a software glitch traps me in an endless loop around Columbus Circle—like that poor guy last year who got dizzy in a Waymo that just wouldn’t stop circling a parking lot? On a Monday, no less.
I’ve got plenty more concerns. Like, what happens to our self-worth when we’re constantly reminded we’re not good enough, and the future doesn’t need anyone who can’t build, train, or command the machines? But for now, let me distract us from the existential ache of being the squishy, error-prone species in the room by focusing on another concern: the robot’s wellbeing. Will New York drive it to its knees?
I hail from a country of order and loving respect for rules. Even in supercool Berlin, we do not question the will of the red light. We wait at the crosswalk, car in sight or not, and we’ll hiss at you if you dare to use your common sense and step out against the light. In that climate, robot cars can thrive.
But here? Waymos will need to learn how to get angry or find other reasons to push ahead with gutsy entitlement. I’ve learned that as a pedestrian on a side street, if a driver hesitates a second too long to claim their right of way, that means I go. If we make eye contact and they look like well-adjusted citizens, that means I go. And if they start moving but I bare my teeth? That also means I go. At the same time, I’m happy to lose the battle and yield to the stronger attitude. It’s all about instinct, intuition, and mutual understanding.
What’s a Waymo gonna do? Politely wait until the last of the human obstacles has taken their chances? It’ll be stuck at that crosswalk until the battery dies.
AI cars play by the rules—and that might be their dead end in this city. Between jaywalkers and double-parkers, tourists on Citibikes and less confused cyclists, fearless pigeons, and airborne plastic bags, this place is going to fry their circuits.
However, the chaos will feed the machines. The New York pilot program will be a goldmine of hot, messy, one-of-a-kind data to train the next generation. They’ll know better. And from what I know about AI (admittedly, next to nothing), they won’t hesitate. They’ll take it up with us and move with cold, unshakable confidence.
Until then, I wish them luck. Because we’ll keep moving in our bold, entitled ways, fully aware the robot is the rational one, which makes it weak. Rational just isn’t the right mindset—uh, cognitive architecture—to make it here. I mean, do they even speak Honk?
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Great essay, Yvonne! You nailed the intuitive algorithm we use when crossing or yielding! You’ve also brought up some important and profound issues about this wave of AI change that’s upon us. Thank you for your humor and insight!
I agree driverless cars are scary, but to characterize walking the street on the UWS as a problem is ridiculous. YOU LIVE IN NYC!! If you are not a child it is not big deal. However, if you are talking about bikes, regular and electrical, on the sidewalks, that is a real problem.
Richard it’s clear you don’t live here.
I admire your confidence. I am an expat from CA, and a senior citizen, to boot. Seventy six revolutions at last count. I find walking the street on the UWS, UES, Village – everywhere – a minefield of hazards for my ilk. 3 year olds un restrained on bikes heading straight at me, messengers zooming around corners on the sidewalks, piles of canine waste, lines of teens waiting for expensive cookies and dancing about (ah, to ignore the calories, the privilege of youth!) and so many other things just waiting to trip me up and send me sprawling. Wow, I didn’t come up for air in that long sentence! But seriously, it’s very hard to navigate safely when your arthritis, balance, and post cataract eyes are just not helping in the sunlight and noise!
I’m a senior too, a 40 year UWS resident and I see none of these horrible dangers and don’t walk around in terror.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2024/06/09/walking-around-manhattan-the-times-they-arent-changing
No way will I get into a self-driving car.
I’d get in one. I wouldn’t wanna be the insurance company greenlighting them in nyc though!
I lived in Pittsburgh when Uber opened a lab there like 13yrs ago, and it was one of the first places anyone ever saw a self driving car. Great place to test them! But thinking they’re ready to handle nyc is a bold bold move and I seriously doubt they’re ready, nor will anyone agree on how to make them ready since to stop it from waiting at a green light for forever often requires the very human move of making eye contact with pedestrians to confirm “you see my light is green? Good because yes I do see that your body is halfway into the street for some reason but I am indeed going nonetheless so please don’t walk forward another 6 inches or this is gonna be a bad interaction”.
I don’t think robots are gonna handle that well, and the companies programming them are gonna have a heck of a time calibrating when “human identified on street, in motion along relative x axis 6in from vehicle contact” is just another new yorker shaving half a second off their commute, or when that’s a new yorker who hasn’t realized there is indeed a car there which has the right of way. And just programming it to ‘go anyway’ is clearly not the answer
Please do a follow up when the first Waymo-related fatality occurs.
And then compare to the rate of driver-related fatalities
Upsampled so the 9 waymo cars match however many human cars are on the streets (one accident compared to hundreds of human accidents isn’t an accurate representation of safety).
But also it’s worth saying we should be looking more at very early adoption stats – when there used to be only a handful of human drivers on the road, how many rich idiots ran people over? I do think robot drivers are the future, and will be orders of magnitude safer. But it will take us a little bit to get there – including humans learning how these new fangled driving machines behave (just like how it wasn’t like horses back in the day)
There’s a reason why CBTC trains have train operators.
What a hoot! You capture the dance between pedestrians (“I go!”) and cars perfectly!!
As well as very funny, the article asks great questions about AI and the future beyond those 8 trail cars!
I live in WNC (western NC) and love this article about NYC, where I lived as a child. NYC has never changed. Even though the article is about modern driverless cars, it captures the spirit of New York and New Yorkers perfectly.
Terrific! Spot on! Wish it weren’t so!!
Yes, yes, yes!!
I thought the article was referring to all the pro-car commenters on WSR lmao
Great description of wading in and out of traffic – comparing to a video game! I always have said that driving in Manhattan is like playing a game of Frogger.
Always love your articles. I could only wish to be as articulate and creative in my native language, let alone another (I assume your native language is German – I apologize if it is not).
I always enjoy Yvonne Vavra’s pieces–she is an excellent writer.
Agree, they are always such a joy to read
It’s always such a pleasure to read Yvonne’s musings.
Please, more and more waymos. They don’t run lights, they don’t speed, they stop for pedestrians, they obey traffic signals, they obey stop signs. They are significantly safer than distracted drivers, they are safer than angry drivers because they don’t care if they get cut off, they don’t look at their phones, they aren’t in a hurry, they aren’t trying to make a show or a reservation, and they don’t care if they “make the light”. I’m all for Waymos. Safer for everyone.
Don’t forget they are always sober and always see 360 degrees simultaneously too!
You can move to san francisco and see how much you like it
What about cyclists? They don’t stay in their designated lane, they don’t stop for pedestrians, they don’t obey traffic signals or stop signs – the list of grievances is voluminous. When will our government wake up and require cyclists to pass a test to be licensed, and to carry insurance like drivers of cars?
When cars stop parking in bike lanes, perhaps cyclists will stop leaving the bike lanes. In the meantime, we don’t want to plow into all the cars whose drivers think it’s fine to block the bike routes. Not to mention the pedestrians who routinely walk in or across the bike lanes without looking first, and the pedestrians who usually check for cars before crossing against the light but pay no attention to the bikes who have to swerve around them.
Cars aren’t parking on the bike lanes on Amsterdam and Columbus and they still ride out of the lanes, ride the wrong way, speed through red lights.
How about pedestrians who ignore Don’t Walk signs, often staring into their phones and oblivious to traffic?
I think of walking UWS sidewalks the same as driving the Pennsylvania Turnpike before I moved here. Strollers are SUVs, delivery carts semis. It’s so similar; traffic backing up trying to pass a large or slow vehicle, construction zones, bad pavement…. The one difference is there I was the quiet cautious one. Here I’m like that crazy sports car weaving in and out of traffic, taking every chance to move ahead.
Sure except on the sidewalk if there’s a collision its a simple ‘whoops my bad’ instead of death and destruction
Even e-bikes?
UWS Dad,
If you have parents or grandparents, please be aware that a collision on the sidewalk could pose serious and permanent injury.
A fall to to the ground could easily mean a broken hip – very serious for elderly
Yes of course greater care should be exercised around the elderly
Tell that to the rest of your bike bro friends!
Exactly! 😀 That’s why I’m ok acting like that. But the irony of acting in a way I deplored on the freeway doesn’t escape me.
Sometimes walking on the UWS feels like being inside a pinball machine. Or a dodge-em car ride at an amusement park. Only not so amusing.
Came seriously close to my eternal exit last night as I crossed w72 and WEA —a speeding cab making a left as I jumped out of the way— at least he gave a cherry wave as he whizzed by! When I got to the curb a woman asked if I was ok? That close, huh?!? The woman’s concern gave me a flash of why I (luckily!) love the UWS💕
These same feelings happen during every industrial revolution.
10 years from now you will be wondering how we ever lived without it.
Like watching TV-Reruns.
You wouldn’t step in front of the fiberless car, right?
I took a Waymo in San Francisco. It was great. It was wonderful in fact.
But yes, while enjoying the ride in SF, I was wondering how it would do in NYC. I hope it will do well, but we definitely need more traffic rules to be enforced before it is a success.
Even without a Waymo, why can’t we enforce those rules?
Well-said (written)!
Less humans behind the wheel = safer streets
Humans and cars are death machines.
Cars are death machines with or without humans, too – remember climate change?
I have to assume that Waymo’s driven by LIDAR and “AI” will be safer than nearly all e-bike drivers, most Citibike riders, and many delivery truck drivers.
The same can’t be said of self-driving Teslas.
How come Waymos will be safer than Teslas? Is the technology better or something?
I hope all the folks complaining about delivery e-bikes don’t order things they deliver! Go buy your groceries, folks, and pick up your own take out if you don’t cook.
Tesla uses visual imaging using cameras. It is a much cheaper technology than lidar and can be tricked by visual disturbances pretty easy. LiDAR maps its surroundings spatially so it can see you even in the dark
Yes, the technology Google is using is vastly better.
Yes, Yvonne! Yes, yes, (honk) yes!
Native New Yorker here. You learn at.a young age not to make eye contact with the driver when you are legitimately in the crosswalk. Side eye the car but never look them in the eye. They will barrel through if given the chance. And I never understood the need to get around the corner where the traffic light for the car is red. Wonder if these driverless cards will get it.
This is so good. You’re so good. Will you be my friend?
Self driving taxis are the way of the future. We should allow this so we are not behind.
Notice how every photo has annoying scaffolding. Ugh.
Thank you for addressing my fears, the inevitable realities and, as always, making me smile!
I like a human driving the car. I sometimes change my destination en route. Wonder how that would work with a Waymo. I also can ask the driver to take certain streets because I know this streets better than GPS. Plus, how do you hail a Waymo?
My daughter lived in Berlin for many years, and I visited her often. I remember her descriptions of getting yelled at by a mother for setting a bad example for her child when my daughter crossed the street without a walk sign. Frequently, when she was back visiting New York, where she now lives, she was so relieved to be able to cross against a light. That said, I am appalled by bicycles who don’t stop, or go the wrong way, or ride on the sidewalk. One has to look both ways even when you have the light before crossing.
Buckle up, luddites! These vehicles will be much safer than some of the drivers I see in these streets. (E g. have you even seen the b-s Jersey plate drivers do in our neighborhood??)
Testing of autonomous vehicles should be conducted on a test course, not city streets. Google has more than enough money to build a test city to simulate the conditions here. Let the accidents happen there, not here.
Waymo’s can’t work here. That’s why they are teleoperated. It’s a scam of a company.
The Tesla Robotaxi however can and will work here. Teslas already drive themselves in nyc and you’ve never heard of any accidents with it here. Tesla is the future.
I can’t wait to see what Waymo does when it needs to make a left turn while driving on Broadway.