The technology involves communicating the reachability status associated with an autonomous vehicle to a user such as a rider within the vehicle, a person awaiting pickup, or a customer that scheduled a package deliver. Reachability information about pickup and/or drop off locations is presentable via an app on a user device, which helps set expectations with customers about where the vehicle is most likely to be able to perform a pickup and/or drop off. This may include indicating how much variance there may be based on current congestion, parking or idling regulations, or weather conditions. The reachability information may be presented via one or more visualization tools to indicate the uncertainty and/or likely final location. Presenting such contextual information may be done based on real time information, and the presentation may be updated as needed. Historical information about the location may also be used to lower the level of uncertainty.