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

cpuc.ca.gov

211–220 of 424 posts

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

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A recent Uber driver of mine encountered bay bridge traffic, said, "I know a shortcut!" and veered out of the line waiting to enter the bridge. Then, Uber Safety called my phone asking if everything was alright. Then, the driver realized he didn't know where I was trying to go, asked me, realized I needed to go to Oakland, and spent 10+ minutes going in a slow circle to get back to the line of traffic. A few drives l…

This is misanthropic tech vision at its finest. I got a job recommendation from an Uber driver. My aunt (against TOS) built a private driver business based on her personality after driving Lyft from the airport. I had a great conversation with a Somalian driver who’s favorite music artist was Dolly Parton. Once a driver saved me from a hairy situation with an irate customer who was chasing me and throwing things, I t…

>But maybe I’m just one of those extroverts who doesn’t mind being around people.

Maybe. Or you've just been "lucky" with the kinds of experiences you've had on Uber.

I've had some really annoying drivers, shitty drivers. People have reported assaults and some have ended up worse.

If this were a daily thing for people (which it could be in the future), I wouldn't want a 1on1 experience every day (twice a day) with a new driver each time, each with their own personalities, driving abilities, and needs at the moment. Forget that.

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

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maybe I’m just one of those extroverts who doesn’t mind being around people Sometimes I want a chauffeur, usually one I have a relationship with, often I want a reliable ride. We’re all better off for having the choice.

It would be nice to have an UberSSR option for sure, for the people that just want a ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FUQYPfL0Pg

> would be nice to have an UberSSR option for sure

They ask for temperature and conversation preferences when you order a black car, which I find somewhat funny.

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

#213
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, in my (limited) experience, I've seen Waymo being within +/- $1-2 of Uber.

From my not-so-limited experience, it's often double.

I also see 2x prices for Waymo.

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

#215

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.

When i was in florida at Orlando, my wife and i experienced several of the worst Uber/Lyft drivers i can imagine. We're talking regularly breaking the law while driving, drivers. My wife also regularly encounters drivers she is uncomfortable around.

In general i'd vastly prefer a non-human experience.

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

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is misanthropic tech vision at its finest. I got a job recommendation from an Uber driver. My aunt (against TOS) built a private driver business based on her personality after driving Lyft from the airport. I had a great conversation with a Somalian driver who’s favorite music artist was Dolly Parton. Once a driver saved me from a hairy situation with an irate customer who was chasing me and throwing things, I t…

Your assumption is that Uber/Lyft will now disappear and you'll HAVE to ride Waymo? Seems dubious to me. Can't you still call an Uber in SF, where they've had Waymo for a while?

I really don't see how a human-centered driving company survives with something that is near fully automated and new "drivers" can just be ordered up from Stellantis or whomever, provisioned, and sent on the road. The scaling laws just don't match up.

I say "near fully automated" because there's loads of operations involved, including human remote fleet management for when cars get stuck. But even that doesn't scale linearly with the amount of automated vehicles on the road, whereas Uber will always be at least 1:1 human:car.

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

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It sucks because we don't fund it. Europe does fine.

Almost everything where people ask for "more funding", that service is junk and adding money just means you go from getting junk for cheap to getting junk for expensive. I've seen zero cases of it going from junk to even mediocre. I've seen numerous examples of junk going from cheap junk to expensive junk, especially in US public services.

The "more funding" is always allocated towards existing rent-seekers.

And my opinion with getting junk is that if I'm getting it, I want to be paying as little for it as possible.

As a quick test for what you feel, try this. You read a headline that says "This city school received the most government funding of any school in the US". Do you think that school is "great" / "mediocre" / "crap"? My personal immediate inclination is that the school is probably shit.

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

#219
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all my experience and I get a ton of value out of Waymos. > steal jobs from ordinary people and give them to the tech industry technological progress is good, it is good to reallocate people's talent if we no longer need drivers

That’s not how humans actually work. Driving is one of the last big job sources for millions of Americans and when it disappears there will be many people out of work. Expect more homeless and drug use when people have difficulty transitioning in a post driver world.

It is not a good thing to employ a bunch of people in pointless jobs just because we don't have anything else for them to do. That's not labor, that's toil.
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