ClaimsRodney Brooks

“Waymo did indeed add two cities in 2025, Austin and Atlanta.”

Rodney Brooks, blog author 1 January 2026 Predictions Scorecard, 2026 January 01 (rodneybrooks.com) archived copy

Factual Technology

Waymo added two cities in 2025, Austin and Atlanta.

Research failed Research could not run for this claim; not scored.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

What would count as true or false

True if Waymo launched public driverless ride-hailing service in Austin and in Atlanta during calendar 2025 (both through the Uber partnership: Austin in March 2025, Atlanta in June 2025), and these were the only two new metro areas it added in 2025. Mostly true if both launched in 2025 but Waymo also opened public service in another new city, or in a smaller expansion within an existing area, that the claim leaves out. Mixed if only one of the two launched in 2025. False if neither launched in 2025.

Set before the research began.

Reasoning

Research or judging failed: research_extract:c_5306896a7982: success: API Error: Haiku 5.5 can't help with this. Start a new session to continue. Learn more: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/aup Details: `[bio]` Request ID: req_011Cgib4XLBHKYxBGRZb3nh1 Message ID: msg_011Cgib4XeXHVupTDKTmC9U9

Cite this claim

Rodney Brooks, “Waymo added two cities in 2025, Austin and Atlanta.” (said 1 January 2026). Verdict: research failed. Reliability API, claim c_5306896a7982, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_5306896a7982

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Rodney Brooks, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More factual claims by Rodney Brooks

  1. Mostly true Factual 1 January 2025
    “Zoox has purpose built vehicles that have no steering wheel or pedals for brake or accelerator.”

    Zoox has purpose-built vehicles with no steering wheel or brake and accelerator pedals.

  2. Mixed Factual 29 September 2024
    “In the early days of robots for hospitals and for hospitality (i.e., hotels) and for managed care facilities for the elderly, it was first necessary to install Wi-Fi in the buildings as it was needed…”

    In the early days of robots for hospitals, hotels and managed care facilities, Wi-Fi first had to be installed in buildings so the robots could know what to do next.

  3. Mostly true Factual 29 September 2024
    “The Roomba was an easy sale, not just for its price, but because it did not demand that people had to install some infrastructure in their home environment before they could have a Roomba clean their…”

    The Roomba did not require customers to install any infrastructure before use; it needed only a standard electrical outlet for its charger.

  4. Mostly true Factual 1 January 2024
    “I did an analysis of the lack of videos showing any practical looking flights of any potential eVTOL solution”

    In late 2022 Brooks analysed the lack of videos showing any practical-looking flights of any eVTOL vehicle, despite multi-billion dollar company valuations.

  5. Resolved true Factual 22 June 2023
    “The long tail is not solved by learning, fire chief not happy with humanless vehicles in SF”

    The San Francisco fire chief is unhappy with driverless vehicles in the city.

All of them

Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.