31–40 of 406 posts
What Waze brings to the table is that it already knows your route and when you travel. This is HUGE. Now they just need to add a dating like feature that puts all democrats or republicans in the same car so that fights don't break out!
I was in Israel last year and they just love Waze. Everything is Waze this and Waze that. They have an absolute belief in Waze as a brand. Most have no idea it is owned by Google, nor seemed very interested when I mentioned it. So I'd say if they can get this working anywhere, it will be in a traffic-riddled country full of people who obsess over journey times and who absolutely love this brand.
oh and the ads! waze in Israel shows ads on the screen every time your speed is close to stopped, and then slide them up when you start moving. it's awful. irresponsible. and gave me lots of anxiety every single time. it's probably fine for people that just want traffic info, but for actual gps guidance usage it is hell.
The reason why I would not consider Google to legitimately compete with Uber/Lyft at scale in this arena is because it's not part of their nature to staff customer support at the level required to run operationally-intensive businesses. The rate in which something goes wrong in the real world (esp where money in exchanged) is much higher than in a pure software world, and Google is going to try to take the FAQ/chatbo…
For example, when Gitlab decided to transition from the cloud, we saw Google Engineers jump in the discussion thread unprompted, criticizing Gitlab's decision and not-very-subtly telling Gitlab to follow up over email. Obviously, these low-level employees weren't directed to act in concert, but it seems like they came from a culture where the customer knows nothing and is always wrong.
The reason why I would not consider Google to legitimately compete with Uber/Lyft at scale in this arena is because it's not part of their nature to staff customer support at the level required to run operationally-intensive businesses. The rate in which something goes wrong in the real world (esp where money in exchanged) is much higher than in a pure software world, and Google is going to try to take the FAQ/chatbo…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> On the latter, I am mixed about my preference to converse with fellow well-paid, well-educated technologists. I don't know if this is resource-saving camaraderie or a furthering of the mutual isolation of white and blue collar Californians. I mean, if you're not talking to your uber/lyft driver as-is... I don't know. I'm convinced Facebook's done enough of that class segregation for us already. At least in the case…
>Facebook's done enough of that class segregation for us already I'm convinced the Bay Area itself has done enough of that segregation. Isn't that the entire reason people move there? Every time I ask why someone moved to SV, they say it's because that's where all of the tech talent is. Why is your startup headquartered in SV? Because that's where all the tech talent is. The only reason SV exists is because it's self…
In Seattle or other cities where traffic congestion is such a problem, I'd take someone for free if I could drive in the carpool lanes. I can even imagine someone who could be paid for just being a body in the car by someone really well off.
Didn't know Google used React (according to Chrome).