Waymo’s shift from hyper-polite robotaxi to boldly assertive city driver hit a surreal peak in Los Angeles this week, when one of the self-driving cars cruised straight into an active police standoff — gliding past a prone suspect on the pavement as officers shouted commands and a helicopter circled overhead.

Waymo later said the seemingly out-of-control robotaxi cleared the area within seconds in the Sunday incident and its passengers made it safely to their destination, TMZ reports.

But the bizarre moment underscores a broader trend: Waymos aren’t driving like the cautious rule-followers they used to be.

Across California, riders and pedestrians have noticed the company’s once-gentle cars turning more assertive — sometimes aggressively so, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In San Francisco, the autonomous vehicle known for stopping too politely at four-way intersections are now darting ahead to avoid waiting their turn — changing lance extremely close to other cars, mimicking taxi-driver urgency, and even bending traffic rules when they conflict.

One witness said watching two Waymos zigzag through a tunnel felt like watching “aggressive New York taxi drivers.”

The transformation isn’t accidental. Waymo has been deliberately reprogramming its fleet to be “confidently assertive,” arguing that excessive politeness actually causes problems in dense urban traffic.

Engineers say the software now makes “common-sense” decisions — like crossing a double yellow to pass a blocked lane — choices human drivers make every day.

The result: Waymos that maneuver faster, squeeze into tighter gaps, and keep pace with the flow of impatient city driving.

But the new attitude comes with friction. Police in San Bruno recently pulled over a Waymo for an illegal U-turn.

In San Francisco, pedestrians say the cars accelerate the moment they clear the crosswalk. One passenger described clutching the back seat as her ride slipped past another car with barely an inch to spare. Others complain the vehicles are now picking up some of Uber’s less charming habits — like stopping on the wrong side of the street.

The L.A. standoff encounter puts this new behavior under the sharpest spotlight yet. Whether the car’s bold entrance was a misjudgment or just the latest example of Waymo’s increasingly aggressive driving, it marks a striking evolution in how autonomous vehicles navigate real-world chaos.

Once the most courteous cars on the road, Waymos now seem to be learning an old urban truth: in big-city traffic, niceness doesn’t always cut it.