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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]

#311

Post by cj »

marssaxman wrote: post #308
cj wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ditto as a motorcyclist. Making eye contact with drivers makes riding a lot easier. You know they see you.

When I'm on a motorcycle, I assume they are never seeing me - but it's still useful to see them , and I can often tell what they are about to do before they've started doing it. I have not yet had the chance to share the road with a robot, but I wonder whether that feeling for traffic will still work.

Agreed.

It would be nice if there were a simple directional light on the top of robotaxis that indicates where it’s intending to go next (directional light) and how imminently it will begin moving (perhaps how fast the light blinks) when e.g. at a stop sign.

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

#312

Post by AlbertCory »

_acco wrote: post #117

I love Waymo and use it all the time. One aspect I'd still like to see them figure out: As a bike commuter, I share the road with Waymo often. When cycling, you're always checking the eyes of other drivers to confirm if they see you. I've had a couple incidents where I was a little thrown/unnerved because I couldn't confirm if a Waymo was registering me. It ultimately behaved fine, but I had to put my guard way up be…

since I'm out walking the dog often, in the dark and in daytime:

Often you can't tell if a human sees you. Even in day, they may have tinted windows, or the sun might make it impossible. At night, you definitely can't tell.

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

#313

Post by SoftTalker »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #138
ericmcer wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I’ve wanted a lay-flat ride between San Francisco and the South Bay for ages.

Crash safety and the need for seatbelts will limit what can be done with the interior. There won't be any lay-flat seating.

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

#314

Post by jltsiren »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #296
jltsiren wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subsidizing public transit to make it affordable is a terrible idea. If you want good public transit with stable funding, you must build it primarily for the middle class. For people who pay more taxes than they receive benefits and who could choose to drive instead. Driving has high fixed costs and low marginal costs. If you have a car anyway, using it for yet another trip is cheap. If you want to make public transi…

>For people who pay more taxes than they receive benefits and who could choose to drive instead. that doesn't make sense. You just described the issue: they can choose to drive. And many do in the US. Government subsidizes transport to get more people into the city hubs, which bolsters the economy of business as more people can reach downtown, which gives the town/city more money in taxes. These business have fixed c…

Public services used by people who can afford the alternatives are universally better than those intended for the poor. If you don't use the service yourself, you don't care that much about the quality, and you are more likely to support funding cuts. Because the poor are a minority, most people don't really care about services used by them.

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

#315

Post by maximus-decimus »

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.

Today my Uber driver wore so much cologne it made me wanna puke after a 5 minutes ride. The other day, one tried to convert me to his religious group.

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

#316

Post by foota »

_acco wrote: post #117

I love Waymo and use it all the time. One aspect I'd still like to see them figure out: As a bike commuter, I share the road with Waymo often. When cycling, you're always checking the eyes of other drivers to confirm if they see you. I've had a couple incidents where I was a little thrown/unnerved because I couldn't confirm if a Waymo was registering me. It ultimately behaved fine, but I had to put my guard way up be…

You can imagine some ominously humorous implementations of this. Red dot laser for pointing out people?

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

#317

Post by Solvency »

maximus-decimus wrote: post #315
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.

Today my Uber driver wore so much cologne it made me wanna puke after a 5 minutes ride. The other day, one tried to convert me to his religious group.

I can't even buy fruit from a certain grocery store because some kid there must were cologne. The fruit absolutely reeks of it.

Waymo cars will be no different. All it takes is one Armenian guy visiting Glendale slathered in cologne to nuke one of those cars permanently for all time.

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

#318

Post by iancmceachern »

konschubert wrote: post #164
_acco wrote: post #117

I love Waymo and use it all the time. One aspect I'd still like to see them figure out: As a bike commuter, I share the road with Waymo often. When cycling, you're always checking the eyes of other drivers to confirm if they see you. I've had a couple incidents where I was a little thrown/unnerved because I couldn't confirm if a Waymo was registering me. It ultimately behaved fine, but I had to put my guard way up be…

As a biker, I feel MICH safer around self driving cars because I know they are paying attention. I don’t need to check if they see me. They do.

I'm the exact opposite. I've had a couple incidents that make me not trust them.

(Weird this was down voted, just sharing personal experiences)

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

#319

Post by akira2501 »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #251
csharpminor wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 saf…

IDK, It just sounds like some people have bad experiences and is using negativity bias to justify early tech (and ofc a skewed audience who seems to abhor socialties). All my uber rides were boring and uneventful. I see no need to pay a premium to guarantee that. Meanwhile the driving experience of autonomous drivers is still not at a satisfactory stage for me. Maybe it worked fine in SF, but LA has some pretty rough…

> and ofc a skewed audience who seems to abhor socialties

At the same time every other story involves a horror over "going to dinner." They apparently don't abhor socialities, they just abhor having to be in the presence of the "lower caste."

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

#320

Post by bombcar »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #268
rufus_foreman wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> An affordable mid size car costs roughly $6k per year Show your math.

Really? do you want to see every little receipt from the GP? I'll give a rough cost with my small sedan pre-pandemic - Gas every 2 weeks (30 mile commute to work), fillin up the car is about $60. so $120 for gas. 120/month is 1440/year - DMV costs are $150 a year - car wash every few months. Let's make it monthly and more expensive than my actual washes. $50/month, 600 a year - oil change every 3 months or so (probab…

It's all down to miles per year, a new car should last 100k miles "without major repairs" and if you drive 10k miles a year (whatever, if it's more it's more in favor of the owner) a car should last at least 10 years.

A new car is $40k, a 10 year old car seems to go for about $10k, so say $3k a year. So with a brand new car, still getting "around" that $6-7k a year.

Or to put it another way - at some point it HAS to be cheaper to own, because someone owns the car that is driving you around!

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