[wordsarelies]

So it's funny, when they first started rolling these out folks were interested, intrigued even. Folks walking would give them deference, mostly not run in front of them if they saw them, very unlike how they treat regular drivers. But now folks are getting sick of them.

So they were modeling all their behavior and driving around cooperative pedestrians and cars (mostly) now they have to model for an adversarial public.

Good fucking luck.

[imperialdrive]

They are MUCH more aggressive now. It used to be that if you saw one, you could be 99% sure it would stop and wait for the path to be fully clear. Now, they will buzz right by you within a foot or two. Very alarming how quickly they progressed to being careless.

[JoshTko]

Google will optimize minimizing deaths/accidents vs maximizing trips/revenue. So it seems that buzzing closer to people is optimal for Google.

[__loam]

Do you have anything beyond anecdotal evidence to support this?

[valine]

Would be easier to change the paint job. Just disguise them as regular taxis.