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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

#111

Post by NewMountain »

threeseed wrote: post #55
austinkhale wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- The cars are very safe, very conservative drivers - The interiors are nice, well air conditioned and don't smell - You don't have to talk to a person, which I don't always hate but have had some bad experiences. This just removes the roll of the dice from the equation entirely. - They are currently at par or cheaper with Uber/Lyft prices and typically it's faster for the car to arrive - You get to play your own mus…

> You don't have to talk to a person My partner has been propositioned and harassed over a dozen times by Uber drivers. I think for many this is going to be a killer feature.

I had an Uber driver in upstate New York who was trying to get me to agree or at least not disagree with the superiority of the white "race". I had another driver in Oakland California who would not relent until I acknowledged God is real and I should be thankful for his love. I felt massive cognitive dissonance afterwards feeling both the requirement to report these drivers but also massive guilt at the non-zero chance I was depriving them of one if not the last potential for work available to them. I decided not to report either but still reflect on whether that was a good choice or not.

Edit: to be totally clear: I did not agree in either situation, but tried to gracefully divert or redirect without escalating the situation. I didn't confront as, frankly, I wasn't sure if the person would have responded violently.

Uber is valuable, but I have kind of accepted the premise that an Uber drive is just a public transit experience with a customized destination. I should expect some potentially weird and possibly unpleasant interactions as part of the process.

I would 100% convert to Waymo only away from Uber just based on those two experiences and dozens if not hundreds of generally positive Uber experiences.

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

#112

Post by inferiorhuman »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #105
inferiorhuman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving EV’s in all major cities would be a big win for the climate and the air quality. Counterpoint: no, they wouldn't. Moving towards self-driving automobiles merely props up an inefficient mode of transportation. Imagine sinking all that money that's being blown on self-driving cars into pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The problem with cars is cars, not drivers.

> Imagine sinking all that money that's being blown on self-driving cars into pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure This does jack squat for getting across San Francisco or from corner to corner of Phoenix.

You can already bike from one part of SF to another, investment in bicycle infrastructure would make that easier and safer. Or, you know, public transit. Individual vehicles suffer from massive inefficiency compared to nearly any other form of transportation – look at Elon's fully autonomous tunnel.

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

#113

Post by icey »

drusepth wrote: post #72
icey wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here (downtown Phoenix area) -- the driverless Waymos have been awesome. Occasionally they get confused but it seems pretty rare. They're better than a lot of the other drivers on the road out here. I'm mostly excited that they upped the allowed passenger count from 3 to 4. Usually we take a car if we're going out to dinner with friends but the 3 passenger limit made taking one of these a pain in the ass or impo…

Does the fourth passenger sit in the "driver's" seat, or is it a three-packed-in-the-back kind of situation? Never seen a self-driving-car in person, but I assume it's the standard 4-seater sedan layout, right?

I haven't taken one since they announced the change (I'm in a part of Phoenix that's pretty walkable), but I think it will be 3 in the rear bench and one in the passenger seat. They've been pretty clear that they don't want people sitting in the driver's seat, and I'm guessing that will continue to be the case with this change.

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

#114

Post by inferiorhuman »

bombcar wrote: post #110
inferiorhuman wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, at least in this instance, the traditional vehicles were all stopped in the appropriate place.

Human vehicles also eventually fix problems by bending or breaking the law if necessary.

Sure, to that end my favorite Cruise anecdote stems from one of the Cruise humans forcing the car to make an illegal left turn off of Mission a few years ago. Granted Cruise's software still struggles with legal left turns, but still.

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

#117

Post by iinnPP »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #101
iinnPP wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Market dominance would still allow for it to be profitable. Is money to goal or is it a better society? Less pollution, less waste, more social interaction, and increased safety. Less colored paper. Surely the government has an interest in financially incentivising this development. Especially given a decrease in road wear and tear, lower climate impact and surely any number of other benefits.

> money to goal or is it a better society More people taking cheaper trips in cleaner vehicles is a better society in my book.

Absolutely. That is the today impact.

What about when it's Waymo One or Uber Zero. Support is GPT7 Two.

No call center jobs, no driving jobs, less supporting jobs, less money flow, more homelessness, more violence. Decreasing compensation for the jobs remaining due to increased competition.

Short term profits go brrr?

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

#119

Post by bombcar »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #114
bombcar wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Human vehicles also eventually fix problems by bending or breaking the law if necessary.

Sure, to that end my favorite Cruise anecdote stems from one of the Cruise humans forcing the car to make an illegal left turn off of Mission a few years ago. Granted Cruise's software still struggles with legal left turns, but still.

A formative experience when I was learning to drive was being pulled over to the right and watching a firetruck pull behind a car stopped at a red light, siren blaring and lights flashing, and eventually having to get on the PA and tell the person to run the red light so they could get through.

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

#120

Post by cyberax »

tedivm wrote: post #38
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.

Climate yes, but air quality not by as much as you'd think. Multiple studies have come out showing that the weight of EVs puts more pressure on tires and breaks, which in turn increases the particles they dump in the air. > As a result, total PM10 emissions from EVs were found to be equal to those of modern ICEVs. PM2.5 emissions were only 1–3% lower for EVs compared to modern ICEVs. Therefore, it could be concluded…

> Climate yes, but air quality not by as much as you'd think. Multiple studies have come out showing that the weight of EVs puts more pressure on tires and breaks, which in turn increases the particles they dump in the air.

This is total bullshit. EVs barely use frictional brakes at all. My Tesla Model S from 2014 is still on the original set of brakepads after nearly 200000 miles. Several EV car models even have a problem with disks _rusting_ because the frictional brakes are not used except when the car is parked.

If anything, EVs will absolutely cut down on brake dust.

With tires, it's a bit more nuanced. Regular tires can indeed wear a bit faster on an EV, especially if you are addicted to high acceleration. But tire vendors are now producing EV-optimized tires that are a bit more durable, and it seems like the difference is pretty negligible.

Also, keep in mind that your bullshit study only looked at weight. So it follows that buses and trucks (that have MUCH more weight) will leave genocide and devastation in their wake.

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