When I took Waymo in Phoenix, I booked a ride from a suburban hotel to a restaurant in a strip mall. One of the things I noticed was that I was picked up far away from the entrance of the hotel (eg, not under the overhang that protects from sun and rain, where every Uber has picked me up and dropped me off). I recall thinking that it was good there was no weather in Phoenix b/c I had to walk far enough I'd have gotten soaked in a decent rainstorm.
Also Waymo will not pick you up on private streets. I live in a small community with a private street and I have to walk to the nearest public one (2 mins).
One thing I've noticed about the SF deployment is that it's slowly gotten better at this. At first it was very cautious about where it would pick you up/drop you off, but now it offers much closer options (from a menu -- a bit like Uber at airports).
I suspect this might be something that is human-added from data collected in past trips.
Have they changed this?