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Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

blog.waymo.com

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Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#11

Post by petters »

austinkhale wrote: post #5

I live inside the original area in Phoenix where they did their training. I have to give kudos where it's due. I originally _hated_ their cars constantly driving around our neighborhood, but I was persuaded to try one a few weeks back. It completely changed my mind. They are now my favorite way to get around. I am a very happy, frequent customer and hope they keep adding coverage and more cars. This is absolutely the…

Can't believe you post on HN haven't tried them. I've been thinking of a vacation to Phoenix just to try them and I live in Europe :)

Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#13

Post by iinnPP »

melling wrote: post #3
alphabetting wrote: post #2

> "we are now serving over 10 thousand trips per week to public riders, not including employees. With this latest expansion, we intend for those numbers to accelerate rapidly to 10 times that scale by next summer" they've been pretty cautious on predictions after the AV hype boom and bust a couple years ago. 10x in a year is an ambitious goal.

10,000 trips in electric vehicles. Self-driving EV’s in all major cities would be a big win for the climate and the air quality.

I agree but also worry about the job loss and the inevitable loss of freedoms that will inevitably be 'justifiable' when automatic driving is the norm.

Basically, if the cost can be comparable to car ownership, reducing resource use by making car buying of any kind far more difficult. Which is admittedly entirely a thought experiment. Though it is a thought experiment many authors seem to arrive at.

Edit: I wish I could say I was surprised at the downvotes for a comment that is pro-worker.

Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#14

Post by ra7 »

kccqzy wrote: post #10
austinkhale wrote: post #5

I live inside the original area in Phoenix where they did their training. I have to give kudos where it's due. I originally _hated_ their cars constantly driving around our neighborhood, but I was persuaded to try one a few weeks back. It completely changed my mind. They are now my favorite way to get around. I am a very happy, frequent customer and hope they keep adding coverage and more cars. This is absolutely the…

For those of us not located in areas where Waymo is available, do you mind elaborating on why this is your favorite way to get around? As compared to Uber, Lyft, etc.

I’ve only taken a couple of Waymo rides when I went to Phoenix. I would take them over Uber/Lyft any day, if Waymo offered rides in my city because:

* They are very safe and you’re not at the mercy of the Uber/Lyft driver’s driving skills.

* Their cars are pretty good (Jaguar I-Pace fleet) and generally very clean. You know what you’re getting every time.

* You don’t have to interact with a driver.

* No tipping.

Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#15

Post by austinkhale »

dopamean wrote: post #9
austinkhale wrote: post #5

I live inside the original area in Phoenix where they did their training. I have to give kudos where it's due. I originally _hated_ their cars constantly driving around our neighborhood, but I was persuaded to try one a few weeks back. It completely changed my mind. They are now my favorite way to get around. I am a very happy, frequent customer and hope they keep adding coverage and more cars. This is absolutely the…

Why did you hate them at first? What about the experience of using the service changed your opinion?

> Why did you hate them at first?

I walk my dogs twice a day and the cars are constantly driving by with their array of sensors. Made me feel like I was being constantly filmed and recorded... which as I understand them to work I certainly was/am. Outside of that, I resented being involuntarily part of a science experiment that is objectively pretty dangerous all things considered. For example, I would never cross the street when one was coming down the road. I didn't trust them.

> What about the experience of using the service changed your opinion?

The UX is really incredible. The car handled driving very, very well. Much better/safer than most Uber/Lyft's I've been in. Made me realize how freeing this technology will be for those that don't have the ability to drive. If you don't have a car / don't have the ability to drive in Phoenix, you're going to have a bad time. Walkability here is typically very poor.

Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#16

Post by bushbaba »

sgarrity wrote: post #7

10,000 trips / week is impressive. How many vehicles is this?

It’s not really when you consider their burn rate. Say each of those trips gross 10$. That’s just 100k/week or $5.2 million/year. They’d need to likely 10,000x the ride volume to even be close to profitability.

Uber does 7.64 billion rides per year. And they are not profitable. The waymo cars sure ain’t cheap, and scale of operations will take a ton of cash. I wonder if waymo would ever be profitable.

Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#18

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

melling wrote: post #3
alphabetting wrote: post #2

> "we are now serving over 10 thousand trips per week to public riders, not including employees. With this latest expansion, we intend for those numbers to accelerate rapidly to 10 times that scale by next summer" they've been pretty cautious on predictions after the AV hype boom and bust a couple years ago. 10x in a year is an ambitious goal.

10,000 trips in electric vehicles. Self-driving EV’s in all major cities would be a big win for the climate and the air quality.

The “EV” part seems to be carrying the weight there, not the self-driving. Self-driving might even make those problems worse by decreasing the cost of driving.

It’s like saying “self-driving cars and solving the nitrogen fixation problem would be a big win for preventing famine.”

Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#19

Post by aidos »

iinnPP wrote: post #13
melling wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10,000 trips in electric vehicles. Self-driving EV’s in all major cities would be a big win for the climate and the air quality.

I agree but also worry about the job loss and the inevitable loss of freedoms that will inevitably be 'justifiable' when automatic driving is the norm. Basically, if the cost can be comparable to car ownership, reducing resource use by making car buying of any kind far more difficult. Which is admittedly entirely a thought experiment. Though it is a thought experiment many authors seem to arrive at. Edit: I wish I co…

Which jobs are you thinking? Bus drivers? Taxis? Car production? Which loss of freedom are you referring to?

I can’t help thinking that the potential upside will far out-way the cost.

London streets are littered with dormant vehicles. Most just sit there taking up room and dominating the city. It would be a whole other city if we could change that dynamic.

Re: Waymo One doubles service area in Phoenix, continues growing in SF

#20

Post by jccooper »

majormajor wrote: post #6
melling wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10,000 trips in electric vehicles. Self-driving EV’s in all major cities would be a big win for the climate and the air quality.

It's probably more of a mixed bag. Self-driving car fleets probably increase suburbization in the same way that trains created suburbs long ago. Depending on how it breaks out, "more space per person at similar total environmental impact" is a quality of life win but not a climate-change-fighting one. Pedestrian safety and other externalities are probably a big win, still.

I feel like the increase in suburbanization due to self-driving cars is probably pretty small over person-driven cars. Given the low building density that human-driven cars create (read: parking lots) there's some hope that a large change in car parking behavior would lead to lots of infill development.
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