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Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

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Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#291

Post by throwaway7ahgb »

sheepscreek wrote: post #288
ssl-3 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man. My daughter's head would sometimes detach from her body and fly around the room by itself. Strapping her down in a car seat and taking her for a drive usually rectified the situation. I look forward to a future where this process can become more automated. (/s, sorta)

> Man. My daughter's head would sometimes detach from her body and fly around the room by itself. Is this satire, or am I missing something (going by the serious replies)? Not sure I would ever use this phrasing to describe anything serious - much less about my own child.

Search "Why is my baby crying bloody murder" aka witching hour.

If you've never experienced this, you are very lucky.

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#292

Post by darby_nine »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #285
quectophoton wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anecdotally they can be 10-25% slower than the rest of traffic I don't know anything about USA, but my understanding of other humans tells me that "Waymo is 10-25% slower than the rest of traffic" actually means "Waymo drives at the legal speed limit for that location, without surpassing it".

So it's a bad driver then, because matching flow of traffic is more important and safer than stubbornly following the exact speed limit

Uh that's just not true and I would not trust any driver who says this.

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#293

Post by mensetmanusman »

darby_nine wrote: post #290
tanvach wrote: post #7

We recently started using Waymo more often: - Quality of Lyft and Uber rides have gone down significantly. - Consistently spacious, clean and quiet cars. You know what you'll get. - AC always works and not up to the whim of the driver. - No chatty driver to disturb our sleeping baby. Negatives: - Rides have usually 10% mark up over Lyft and Uber. - Pick up and drop off tend to be a small walk from requested locations…

Wait how do they justify having an even more expensive ride with fewer people to pay? The whole point of cutting the driver out is to save on cost, without that the entire project is no better than uber or lyft (which already overcharges by an arm and a leg)

Initially, automation is always more expensive than cheap labor. That’s why we don’t automate things until human labor becomes more expensive than the ease of automation.

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#294

Post by tomp »

scrollaway wrote: post #280
tomp wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is approximately 0% chance that the speed limit decreed by faceless bureaucrats is the optimal speed for the current circumstances on a given road.

You're the one calling them faceless bureaucrats. Most speed limits are set in place by a mix of safety boards and urban planners, who do take these limits into account. Explain to me what makes them faceless and detached from the situation?

> Explain to me what makes them faceless and detached from the situation?

The fact that they’re not there.

The idea that the same speed is appropriate at 9am when kids are crossing the street going to school and 2am when there’s noone there and no cars parked on the side of the road, is insane beyond belief.

Speed limits are generally repressive and mostly just a tax collection scheme (though I strongly support most daytime city speed limits!)

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#295

Post by throwaway7ahgb »

huppeldepup wrote: post #222
unshavedyak wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father said the same for me. To this day, sleeping in the car is the easiest sleep i get. It's so soothing. Which is problematic considering i'm the sole driver for my household hah.

Has anyone ever attempted putting a bed on actuators to emulate a driving vehicle?

There are many cribs that do this, here is the top of the line: $1000+ : SNOO

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#296

Post by throwaway7ahgb »

badpun wrote: post #276
wdh505 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious preventable accidents happen at 60+ MPH. Generally a slow 20-45 mph (35 mph average) drive around the neighborhood is much safer as there are almost no "serious" accidents. Source: an organization with a fleet installed some driver tracking gps's and looked at the data over a year or two.

Those stats are probably very different for babies, who are more fragile and could get seriously hurt even at lower speeds.

Where are the stats on infant motor deaths where the baby is secured correctly and car speed is <= 40mph?

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#297

Post by darby_nine »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #293
darby_nine wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait how do they justify having an even more expensive ride with fewer people to pay? The whole point of cutting the driver out is to save on cost, without that the entire project is no better than uber or lyft (which already overcharges by an arm and a leg)

Initially, automation is always more expensive than cheap labor. That’s why we don’t automate things until human labor becomes more expensive than the ease of automation.

To some extent this is true, but most of the automation I've witnessed in my lifetime led with direct cost savings. My main conclusion is that waymo's customers are more likely to be scared by other humans than they are to be price sensitive.

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#298

Post by throwaway7ahgb »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #285
quectophoton wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anecdotally they can be 10-25% slower than the rest of traffic I don't know anything about USA, but my understanding of other humans tells me that "Waymo is 10-25% slower than the rest of traffic" actually means "Waymo drives at the legal speed limit for that location, without surpassing it".

So it's a bad driver then, because matching flow of traffic is more important and safer than stubbornly following the exact speed limit

Flow of Traffic vs Speed Limit Dangers

Many believe the myth that as long as we’re going with the flow of traffic, we’re not doing anything wrong. It makes sense– everyone else is going the same speed, so why shouldn’t you? There’s no way a cop could pull you over if you’re just going with the speed of traffic. Wrong.

If you argue that you were just driving with the flow of traffic, then you are essentially admitting to speeding. Other people breaking the law does not justify you breaking the law.

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#299

Post by scotty79 »

darby_nine wrote: post #290
tanvach wrote: post #7

We recently started using Waymo more often: - Quality of Lyft and Uber rides have gone down significantly. - Consistently spacious, clean and quiet cars. You know what you'll get. - AC always works and not up to the whim of the driver. - No chatty driver to disturb our sleeping baby. Negatives: - Rides have usually 10% mark up over Lyft and Uber. - Pick up and drop off tend to be a small walk from requested locations…

Wait how do they justify having an even more expensive ride with fewer people to pay? The whole point of cutting the driver out is to save on cost, without that the entire project is no better than uber or lyft (which already overcharges by an arm and a leg)

You raise the price to reduce the demand to what you can comfortably supply. Price is not a tool of justice. It's a tool for incentivising or disincentivising the customer.

Re: Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F

#300

Post by amanda99 »

drivebyhooting wrote: post #245
notatoad wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10% slower on a 30-minute journey is 3 minutes. if i'm in the back of a taxi, i'm on my phone or reading a book or something. getting there 10% slower really just doesn't matter. humans drive fast becuase when they're late it makes them feel like they're doing something to solve their problem, but the time savings are almost always inconsequential.

Hard disagree. Time savings from speeding comes from discontinuities like beating traffic lights. Also 3 minutes is huge if you’re almost late to a 30 minute private lesson.

> discontinuities like beating traffic lights

Sometimes you beat them, sometimes you don't. It's not always in your favor, it averages out.

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