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Waze Carpool

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Re: Waze Carpool

#91

Post by JohnStudio »

dawhizkid wrote: post #12

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…

Yes, but outsource to someone like SITEL to handle these. It's not like Microsoft staffs the phone directly.

Re: Waze Carpool

#93

Post by wu-ikkyu »

dmix wrote: post #49
freehunter wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

I'm not sure why anyone would need to feel guilty or worry about that fact though. People do that everywhere. Toronto is famous for it's diversity and multiculturalism but the entire city is finely divided into various ethnic, cultural, and work enclaves (little korea, little ethiopia, 2x little italys, etc). And it works great for the most part, there's little ethnic or political tension, at least within the city pr…

>I'm not sure why anyone would need to feel guilty or worry about that fact though

They shouldn't feel guilty, but perhaps they should worry because of the known problems of groupthink.

Re: Waze Carpool

#94

Post by pavel_lishin »

pizzetta wrote: post #66
pavel_lishin wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just described the pure software world solution. What happens when the commuter I pick up vomits in my car? Or steals something from my car? What happens if I get picked up by a person who changes their mind about where they're going? Or decide to take an unplanned detour to go to the store, or back home to grab the laptop they forgot, or to score some heroin? What happens when the driver gropes me? Or I grope th…

They have probably worked those issues out by dogfooding this internally already, don't you think? It's not like they just thought it up and didn't test it out internally as they are wont to do. Those issues were likely discovered and have mitigation. Googliness only gets people to be nice to a point.

> They have probably worked those issues out by dogfooding this internally already, don't you think?

They absolutely could not work out the problem of being, e.g., abused by a driver, internally. By being employees of the company that provides the service, they have an automatic customer service hotline by way of HR.

If I catch a ride to work with my coworker Jeremy, by using a company-supplied app explicitly for us to test, and Jeremy gropes me, you bet your ass HR is going to hear about it as soon as I hang up with the police department.

Re: Waze Carpool

#95

Post by cornholio »

pron wrote: post #90
cornholio wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same thing that happens in the non-Waze case: you kick them out, call the police, get mugged etc. The pure software world exists from Google's perspective, they provide zero support and then it's just a matter of individual choice if you want to use the service or not. Google can go a long way into making this significantly safer than random pick-up: you can select female only drivers or riders, only riders from…

> The same thing that happens in the non-Waze case: you kick them out, call the police, get mugged etc. It's not so simple. Normally people, at least in cities, rarely hitchhike or take up hitchhikers. The goal here is to make it acceptable, and naturally greatly increase the frequency this is happening. This can be reasonably taken as an endorsement by Google to the driver/passenger, because it is -- they want this…

You are pushing the argument a bit by assuming that people will treat it as something different than hitchhiking simply because it's via an app and in-city. There is no reason to asume that - but I do agree that false advertising from Google and failure to properly inform the users of the risks could expose Google to such a liability. The answer is not to add customer support, but to be honest with the users regarding the risks- and make large commissions in the process.

Re: Waze Carpool

#96

Post by JKCalhoun »

freehunter wrote: post #28
eganist wrote: post #4

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…

> Isn't that the entire reason people move there?

By people do you mean corporations?

Because "people" move there for the jobs. No one I know said, "Hey, I want to live in the Bay Area for homogenous techie-elitism."

I moved to the Bay Area from the midwest and was frankly shocked at the lack of Black people in the area. That said, my trips back to my roots have left me wondering where all the Asians are....

:/

Re: Waze Carpool

#97

Post by dingo_bat »

rsbartram wrote: post #89

I gave up the Waze app for GPS as it drained my iphone battery to quickly. I switched over to the default maps app on the iphone 7.

It's amazing how far reaching the effects of Apple's obsession with thin phones are.

Re: Waze Carpool

#98

Post by pizzetta »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #94
pizzetta wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have probably worked those issues out by dogfooding this internally already, don't you think? It's not like they just thought it up and didn't test it out internally as they are wont to do. Those issues were likely discovered and have mitigation. Googliness only gets people to be nice to a point.

> They have probably worked those issues out by dogfooding this internally already, don't you think? They absolutely could not work out the problem of being, e.g., abused by a driver, internally. By being employees of the company that provides the service, they have an automatic customer service hotline by way of HR. If I catch a ride to work with my coworker Jeremy, by using a company-supplied app explicitly for us…

You make a good point. However, you imply that the watchful eye of HR would prevent this happening and yet Google is not sex-crimes free. I grant that it may show up in lower numbers but these things will show up in a years-long program.

Re: Waze Carpool

#99

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

The number of private tech companies that reinvent the BUS and think they're geniuses is staggering.

But god forbid we just fund public transportation. We wouldn't want poor people using our service.

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