Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
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Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#2Now that's a perk. Way better than free kale chips.
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#3That they are dogfooding a private beta makes me think that this has leapfrogged what Google had been shooting for previously, and where Uber is now. I don't know what other options there are on the ground as I'm not based there.
It does seem though that there's a real opportunity for GM to sneak past Uber and Google into a first-mover advantage with this.
I'd no idea they were anywhere near this close to a working AV fleet.
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#4This makes me so excited. I can't wait until the interiors of cars can change completely due to the safety brought by self driving cars. If all cars were self driving and communicated with each other, the risk of crash would be almost nonexistent (obviously there would still be wildlife and other issues). Given a near 0% chance of crash however, we could remove many of the annoying 'features' of a current car, like seat belts and having all the seats in the car face forward. Maybe you can even order specific types of cars for what you want. Tired? Order a bed car. Just a door and inside is a bunch of mattresses and pillows with windows that can be blacked out. Late for work? Order a work car. Has desks with swiveling chairs etc. Just getting groceries or going shopping? Order a hauler car, etc.
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#5This makes me so excited. I can't wait until the interiors of cars can change completely due to the safety brought by self driving cars. If all cars were self driving and communicated with each other, the risk of crash would be almost nonexistent (obviously there would still be wildlife and other issues). Given a near 0% chance of crash however, we could remove many of the annoying 'features' of a current car, like s…
Or why not order a groceries shop car instead?
https://techxplore.com/news/2017-06-convenience-mart-wheels-...
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#6It’s available across all of the mapped area of San Francisco where the test fleet operates, and the app works like any ride-sharing experience, mapping ride requesters with available cars.
What area is that? Isn't all of San Francisco "mapped" 100 times over by this point?
If the "mapped area" isn't all of San Francisco, does this speak to a limitation of their tech or a regulatory/deployment issue?
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#7That they are dogfooding a private beta makes me think that this has leapfrogged what Google had been shooting for previously, and where Uber is now. I don't know what other options there are on the ground as I'm not based there. It does seem though that there's a real opportunity for GM to sneak past Uber and Google into a first-mover advantage with this. I'd no idea they were anywhere near this close to a working A…
Waymo had no business plan, like up until they hired Krafcik they had put no serious thought into how they would commercialize their technology. Through what appears to be arrogance they bungled a promising partnership with Ford that seriously compromised both Ford's and Waymo's chances in this race and ultimately led to the firing of Ford CEO Mark Fields.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20170529/OEM/170529795/googl...
General Motors on the other hand has played their cards brilliantly, and I'm baffled as to how Cruise has managed to make such steady and thorough progress in such a short amount of time. GM is the most futuristic car company out there, and at some point in the not too distant future they won't be so easy to dismiss. It doesn't fit the narrative. Shared, electric, autonomous: there's only one company that has all 3 of these on lockdown and it isn't the company everyone talks about.
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#8>each also has a safety driver in place behind the wheel for testing and as required by law. Still, Cruise says those drivers have had to take over manual control of vehicles engaged in Cruise Anywhere service only on a few occasions, with the vast majority of the driving done autonomously.
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#9I've seen these driving around SF, they're still using the standard engineer in the driver's seat model. One almost hit me when I did the standard SF, 'drive around the person waiting to turn left in your lane' thing on 16th.
Re: Cruise is running an autonomous ride hailing service for employees in SF
#10That they are dogfooding a private beta makes me think that this has leapfrogged what Google had been shooting for previously, and where Uber is now. I don't know what other options there are on the ground as I'm not based there. It does seem though that there's a real opportunity for GM to sneak past Uber and Google into a first-mover advantage with this. I'd no idea they were anywhere near this close to a working A…
Google had a private dogfood beta in 2014; I remember being intrigued by it but I wasn't eligible because I'd just moved farther away and my commute now included highway. (It was for surface streets within 5 miles of the Googleplex only.)
Not sure why it's taken so long since...my guess is that they're being super cautious on the regulatory front and also might not have an idea on go-to market strategy.