I am not a Waymo apologist and am not sure I am ready to ride a Waymo myself, but in SF recently, I realized that many or most of these cars are electric and don’t pollute (directly).

Also, for cities that developed after WWII and don’t have a central core or commuting grid conducive to widespread use of mass transit, super cheap self-driving rental vehicles can be a short cut to mass transit.

I think the traffic jams are a solvable issue where better software and coordination. It’s certainly no different from the fact that transit systems sometimes have service delays and outages.

I think we are decades away from Waymo being ready for a city of chaotic traffic behavior and mass jaywalking like New York and many European cities. All the cities in the US where Waymo have been adopted have much more civilized traffic patterns.