Brian Merchant: Will self-driving cars make LA's world-famous traffic even worse?
For some reason — no one seems to know just why — the self-driving cars can't stay away from a random sleepy block in Santa Monica.
You can see for yourself: Get a cup of coffee at Primo Passo on 7th and Montana, and take a seat. Before long they'll cruise by, one after another — Waymo's autonomous taxis, white electric Jaguar SUVs with a bulbous sensor apparatus spinning up top. I sat on the corner for less than an hour and counted at least 10 self-driven laps.
"I'm here every single morning, and they're driving by. All day, they're driving by," says Jennifer, a film producer and local resident, who asked that I not use her last name. "It's a fixture down here," she adds. "It'd be nice to know why."
As we chat, another one pulls up to the stop light. I jog over and ask the safety driver behind the wheel — behind but not touching it — why they're circling the block. "There's no
