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California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

cpuc.ca.gov

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Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#41

Post by SeanAnderson »

afhjafh3883 wrote: post #7

Has anyone tried it recently? Does it work well? How does the price compare to Uber?

It's cheaper than Uber if you're the type of person to tip your Uber driver 20%. Very infrequently it's cheaper without tip, but usually it's a bit more expensive.

Crucially, it doesn't care if you ask it to drive into heavy traffic. I'm so over Uber giving me an estimated time for pickup, having the driver get within range to learn additional details about the trip, then cancelling on me because it doesn't fit their desires. I was late to a reservation a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to go downtown during Superbowl Weekend and an estimated 3 minute pickup morphed into a ~20 minute delay as I waited for an Uber driver to commit to the drive.

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#43

Post by ra7 »

whimsicalism wrote: post #30
ra7 wrote: post #2

New Waymo operating area: https://twitter.com/saferroadsorg/status/1763687210447196417

when does this roll out?

Approval is effective immediately, but no idea when Waymo will deploy vehicles in those areas. Their fleet size is small (~700 cars).

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#44

Post by brokensegue »

NewJazz wrote: post #31
clay_the_ripper wrote: post #9

As a resident, I don’t support this at all. Waymos are annoying to have on the road - they go extremely slowly (with good reason) and make weird traffic moves. Do we want our roads getting clogged up with super slow taxis that steal jobs from ordinary people and give them to the tech industry?

This is a complicated comment. Do they really drive that slow... Or just, like, the speed limit? Or generally safe(r) driving speeds? All things equal, slower is safer! Why would roads be anymore clogged than they are already? Because transportation becomes cheaper? So should we jack up fuel prices or insurance prices so there are fewer cars on the road? Real questions. And onto the "stealing jobs" comment... Under t…

they drive conservatively but at reasonable speeds

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#45

Post by whimsicalism »

tempest_ wrote: post #24
austinkhale wrote: post #8

Fantastic news. I use them all the time in Phoenix. My mom uses them to get to her doctor appointments. I think people underestimate how much of a quality of life improvement these are for people even when compared to Uber/Lyft.

> people underestimate how much of a quality of life improvement these are for people even when compared to Uber/Lyft I do underestimate it. What are quality of life improvements? Seems to be the same thing from a customer perspective. I guess if you are concerned for your safety from the uber driver it is an improvement but it is the only one that comes to mind.

Having a car to yourself is honestly just way better, maybe I'm just antisocial

Like I will easily pay a premium to have self-driving most of the time. I can play my music on the speakers, I can work more comfortably in the car, etc. etc.

Also, I find Uber drivers are pretty bad drivers often - comparative advantage

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#46

Post by JumpCrisscross »

tempest_ wrote: post #24
austinkhale wrote: post #8

Fantastic news. I use them all the time in Phoenix. My mom uses them to get to her doctor appointments. I think people underestimate how much of a quality of life improvement these are for people even when compared to Uber/Lyft.

> people underestimate how much of a quality of life improvement these are for people even when compared to Uber/Lyft I do underestimate it. What are quality of life improvements? Seems to be the same thing from a customer perspective. I guess if you are concerned for your safety from the uber driver it is an improvement but it is the only one that comes to mind.

> What are quality of life improvements?

Not having to tip. Having the car take a sensible route and not some idiotic detour Waze thought was clever. Having a car that’s always paying attention instead of being on a perpetual phone call. Being able to make phone calls without feeling obnoxious or worrying about one’s rating. Being in an objectively safer ride. Not having to listen to a rant about how the angel Mohamed saw was actually a demon because he was scared or get given a sermon about why being gay is evil. Not having drivers cancel on you because they don’t want to go where you need to.

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#47

Post by sobellian »

clay_the_ripper wrote: post #9

As a resident, I don’t support this at all. Waymos are annoying to have on the road - they go extremely slowly (with good reason) and make weird traffic moves. Do we want our roads getting clogged up with super slow taxis that steal jobs from ordinary people and give them to the tech industry?

While we're at it, do we really want our textile mills getting clogged up with dangerous mechanized looms that steal jobs from ordinary people and give them to the capitalists?

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#48

Post by dangus »

NewJazz wrote: post #39
tempest_ wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people underestimate how much of a quality of life improvement these are for people even when compared to Uber/Lyft I do underestimate it. What are quality of life improvements? Seems to be the same thing from a customer perspective. I guess if you are concerned for your safety from the uber driver it is an improvement but it is the only one that comes to mind.

Yeah that one comes to mind. Personal safety is often a factor influencing public transit decisions as well.

Private transit*. Uber and Waymo are private transit.

Something to note is that actual public transit (buses and trains) has something like 10x fewer annual deaths than private vehicles, because fatal accidents almost never happen in them.

Personal safety is a much less statistically relevant concern compared to personal injury.

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#49

Post by dkjaudyeqooe »

tempest_ wrote: post #24
austinkhale wrote: post #8

Fantastic news. I use them all the time in Phoenix. My mom uses them to get to her doctor appointments. I think people underestimate how much of a quality of life improvement these are for people even when compared to Uber/Lyft.

> people underestimate how much of a quality of life improvement these are for people even when compared to Uber/Lyft I do underestimate it. What are quality of life improvements? Seems to be the same thing from a customer perspective. I guess if you are concerned for your safety from the uber driver it is an improvement but it is the only one that comes to mind.

The big one: dealing with people, any people, sucks.

Nothing is better than being able to go about your business without have to worry about social niceties and endless other tedious things associated with human beings.

Re: California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf]

#50

Post by wilg »

matsemann wrote: post #34
zk wrote: post #14

This is incredible news. In the next 10 years more and more transportation will shift to self driving and save thousands of lives and prevent many more injuries. Already in San Francisco waymo's are and feel much safer than human driven rideshare.

While autonomous driving helps a bit on safety, that's just one of the many issues with the car dependence in our society. It might even expand the issues, if it ends up with less people using public transport and relying on these kinds of things.

Unfortunately self-driving seems to be an easier problem to solve than improving public transit policy anywhere in the U.S.
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