8 OCTOBER 16-22, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | When roads and lane markings are cov- ered with snow, autonomous vehicles must rely on maps and surrounding vehicles, Zhu explains. They struggle with inconsistent plowing and partially snow-covered roads, as AI has diffi culty detecting subtle cues that human drivers use, such as curb edges and snowbanks, she adds. One of the biggest winter challenges will be black ice. The vehicles can detect wheel slip and reduce speed accordingly, but black ice is “nearly invisible even to advanced sen- sors,” Zhu notes. “Humans often anticipate icy spots based on experience; shadows, bridges,” she says. “Current AVs don’t have that same predictive intuition, so response may be reactive rather than anticipatory. “It’s impossible to anticipate all of the corner cases driving on a winter road, so there will inevitably be situations in which the Waymo algorithm has to base decisions unfounded on human driving data or ex- trapolate,” Zhu adds. “Based on Waymo’s rollout and testing in other places, they err on the side of caution. So, you may see more Waymo cars pulled off to the side of the road or highway, which may have different problems if you essentially have a lot of timid drivers on the road.” In addition to weather, Waymo will need to navigate the frequent construction and closures on Denver’s roads. That task has repeatedly confused the robots in San Fran- cisco, reportedly leading Waymo vehicles to stall out at parade street closures and onramps with closed lanes. The robotaxis have also attracted attention for coming to a standstill in a Chick-fi l-A drive-thru and while making a U-turn in front of a motorcade escorting then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Regardless, professor Zhu says she plans to ride in the Waymo taxis when they’re available in Denver. She currently drives a Tesla and uses its self-driving feature; she perceives Waymo as the safer option, noting that its vehicles have more sensors than Tesla’s. “There will always be some absolute risk to try- ing something new like self-driving cars in a winter weather environment, but the more interesting ques- tion is whether these Waymo cars will perform better than humans,” Zhu says. There have only been two fatal collisions involv- ing Waymo, though the au- tonomous vehicles were not considered at fault. In both incidents, the Waymos were empty and struck from be- hind by human drivers: one while in standstill traffi c and the other while slowing to turn into a parking lot. Human Rivals Even if autonomous ve- hicles can drive as well as humans do, local rideshare workers argue that driving is only part of the job. “There’s a customer service part to it. There are so many human touches,” says Steve Lustig, a Denver rideshare driver of six years and an organizer with the Colorado Independent Drivers Union. “A robot can’t recommend a restaurant. Visitors in town ask, ‘What’s there to do in Denver, what can a local recommend?’ The robots don’t have that touch of humanity and that ear to the community,” Lustig adds. “The experience is very dystopian. They’ve totally removed all of the humanity from it.” The union has been pushing against Waymo coming to Denver, describing it as “a serious job security threat,” says executive director Kayla Frawley. Rideshare driver Kareem Sawadogo says he often performs physical tasks for his riders that Waymo can’t do, such as loading their luggage or assisting wheelchair users into the vehicle. “Waymo won’t even open the door for them,” says Sawadogo, who is also an or- ganizer with the Colorado Independent Drivers Union. Sawadogo questions what would happen if a passenger has a medical emergency in an autonomous vehicle, or passes out from having too much to drink. He says he fre- quently has to call emergency services for drunk, unconscious passengers; at times, he says, he has knocked on the door of their home address in order to get them assistance without involving the police. That’s a courtesy that a cyber-cab couldn’t extend. When Waymo passengers do not exit the vehicle at their destination, a remote human employee will assess the situ- ation using cameras inside the car, according to a report in the San Francisco Chroni- cle. An employee will then use the car’s customer service interface to try to commu- nicate with the passenger, and will contact emergency services if they don’t respond. For some riders, avoid- ing human interaction is the goal, and it’s not always just about solitutde. Colorado has a troubling history of rideshare drivers assaulting passengers. In March, Lyft driver John Pastor-Mendoza was sentenced to 290 years in prison for kidnapping and/or sexually assaulting twelve women, targeting intoxicated passengers seeking rides home in Denver. In 2024, Lyft driver Shengfu Wu was sentenced to nine years in prison for raping a thirteen-year-old passenger in Au- rora. That same year, Uber driver Nesrelah Bedru Kemal was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a passenger in Denver. The issue was brought to the forefront in January, when State Representative Jenny Willford said that she was sexually assaulted by her Lyft driver outside of her Adams County home in 2024. Willford sponsored a bill intended to improve safety in rideshares, in part requir- ing more frequent background checks and cracking down on authorized account shar- ing by drivers. The bill, HB25-1291, passed the legislature but was vetoed by Polis in May after Uber threatened to cease opera- tions in Colorado if the governor signed the policy into law. Despite her harrowing experience with rideshares, Willford says she does not plan to use Waymo when it opens to the public. “I don’t see driverless vehicles as a solu- tion to the safety issues I tried to address with HB25-1291, and I don’t agree with eliminating drivers completely,” Willford says. “Human judgment and responsibility will always matter when it comes to keeping people safe on our roads. While I’m all for innovation, driverless vehicles like Waymo raise serious questions about safety, trans- parency and accountability.” The robotaxis have proven successful in other cities, however. Waymo’s prices are comparable to those of Uber and Lyft. In June, YipitData reported that Waymo had surpassed Lyft’s market share in San Francisco. In Nashville, Austin and Atlanta, Uber and Lyft have partnered with Waymo to provide its driverless vehicles via their apps. That is a concern for the thousands of rideshare drivers who operate in Denver. Drivers Cooperative Colorado, a local driver-owned ride- News continued from page 6 The fi fth-generation Waymo Driver. Steve Lustig (left) and Kareem Sawadogo during a union demonstration calling for fair wages for rideshare drivers. WAYMO COLORADO INDEPENDENT DRIVERS UNION continued on page 10
