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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]

#81

Post by b112 »

singleshot_ wrote: post #60
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.

I don’t need to be given a numeric rating by my chauffeur on how well I sit in the back of a car. The social play-acting part of ridesharing apps became exhausting to me (admittedly: an introvert) sometime during the first ride.

[flagged]

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

#82

Post by singleshot_ »

waych wrote: post #75
singleshot_ wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t need to be given a numeric rating by my chauffeur on how well I sit in the back of a car. The social play-acting part of ridesharing apps became exhausting to me (admittedly: an introvert) sometime during the first ride.

Is it better to leave it to an AI algorithm watching you in the back of the car? One way or another passengers are going to get rated.

Of course, you are dead right. Thanks for thinking that situation all the way through, friend.

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

#83

Post by ericmcer »

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.

For now they are still just cars with no driver. Once they are fully trustworthy though, the interior of the car could be repurposed in some interesting ways. Take out all the driving controls, add a desk, move the climate/radio control to a central console, captains chairs. The possibilities are endless.

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

#84

Post by dkjaudyeqooe »

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.

Waymo is public transport, but you mean mass transit.

People don't use mass transit because it sucks, blaming other modes of public transit doesn't cut it. The design and implementation of it is what keeps people from using it.

The good news is automated vehicles will add flexible options for new types of public transport that are between single-trip taxies and mass transit and will lower costs to all kinds of public transit.

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

#85

Post by dangus »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #74
dangus wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. I've never had a fent zombie wave a knife in my face on private transit, but it has happened a couple of times on public transit. I get that it is technically "safer", but we have a long way to go before normal people will feel safe…

Did you get injured or die? 30,000 people die of car crashes every year, about half resulting from a much more common and legal drug.

How many people die of assaults on public transit every year? I’ll let you look that one up.

Fear isn’t the same as risk. Lots of people are afraid of planes. Not a single passenger died of as a result of a commercial airline incident last year in the United States.

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

#86

Post by deprecative »

simplicitea wrote: post #37
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.

I was about to ask the same thing; I have a hard time seeing the ways it ends up a net gain when driving is still a decent job for a lot of people, and rideshare drivers keep to themselves anyways

A car that can drive itself will always be the better option to the companies that can afford the market share. Nobody cares about how automation will remove jobs for folks. These things are important to note. Your opinion as a customer is secondary to the cost to the provider.

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

#87

Post by skyyler »

deprecative wrote: post #72
whimsicalism wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's pedantic to most, I'm sure. Just FYI, though, antisocial is to be opposed to society - like Timothy McVeigh. Asocial is probably what you're looking for.

To be extra pedantic, I believe you meant Ted Kaczynski.

Timothy McVeigh was trying to make the US government pay for specific things it did to "his people"; Ted Kaczynski was lashing out at the industrialised world after living in isolation in his cabin in the woods.

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

#88

Post by seanmcdirmid »

skybrian wrote: post #53
matsemann wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

For longer travel, a convenient way to get to the bus or train station might make public transit more popular.

Ya, smaller door to transit center transportation is something we can even begin to consider once autonomous driving works. Like how old retired PLA soldiers used to drive tuktuks from Beijing subway stations to your apartment in the 1990s for a 5 mao or one kuai.

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

#89

Post by csharpminor »

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.

It’s one of those experiences you didn’t realize you wanted until you have it.

- No need for chit chat, you can just work / talk on the phone / play music

- No 18-hour shift sweat and deodorant smell

- No cursing at other drivers or awkward apologies because of fear of a bad rating

- Smooth, predictable driving. I have yet to have a “holy shit” moment in a Waymo, but this happens regularly in Uber / Lyft.

Also on safety, about 50% of the population has to worry a lot more about being abducted/hit on/stalked/etc. Uber and Lyft know this and have gone to great lengths to recruit female drivers, set up safety hotlines, etc. Not having to worry about the driver is a big deal.

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

#90

Post by rvnx »

dangus wrote: post #48
NewJazz wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There is a big difference between Uber and Waymo.

You can actually be safer in a bus (aka public transit) than in Uber depending on where you live.

With Uber, every time you take a taxi, you are playing the lottery, hoping you get a normal driver, who is not tired, who is not dangerous, etc.

With Waymo, you get a private car, all for yourself.

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