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Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

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Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#121

Post by kjkjadksj »

tkgally wrote: post #8

This will be interesting. As an aging nondriver living in Yokohama, I’ve been both hoping that self-driving cars become available here before I develop mobility issues and wondering how feasible they will be. Since I don’t drive, I don’t have a sense of what the roads here are like from the vehicle’s perspective. But many of the streets, including in the neighborhood where I live [1], are narrow, have no sidewalks, a…

I wouldn’t be surprised if they just avoid those difficult cases. The algorithm is biased to be safe over assertive so people will just cut it off on foot and it will sit there.

For example in LA, waymo is geofenced away from some of the hilly neighborhoods where there are narrow switchbacking roads shared with pedestrians due to a lack of sidewalk. It also does not go on freeways.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#122

Post by bamboozled »

keiferski wrote: post #103
k99x55 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are the most age discriminatory mode of transport of all: only 18+ and not too old can use it, and most disabled cannot use it. A Bicycles work to all ages, all abilities. In your case an ebike, trike (etrike?) or even mobility scooter might be a much lighter, cheaper, scalable option. Hey why not a self-driving e-scooter? Why does it have to weight 2 tons in the first place? Bike infrastructure is not only for…

Have you ever interacted with a person over 70 that has mobility problems? Do you really expect an 80 year old to ride a scooter up a hill in the rain/snow? Getting into the car is difficult enough.

Or move to a flatter area ?

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#123

Post by sedatk »

opdahl wrote: post #11

Going to be very interesting to see how the Japanese people react to this. The service the taxi drivers provide when you take the taxi in Japan is on another level, such as waiting for you with the open door and closing the door for you as you enter. A driverless car will never be able to copy that. Japan also has very good public transportation reducing the need for a car for day to day travel so cost might be less…

Eh, spent two weeks in Japan in mainly Tokyo and Kyoto a couple weeks ago, and I can safely say that the quality of taxi service varies a lot. Fantastic ride from and to the airport with the driver handling all our luggages. But, taxi drivers who didn't speak English and who couldn't read romanized addresses were common. It was a problem because Google Maps defaulted to romanized addresses on our phones due to our phone language being English.

A taxi we called up using Uber (Uber can only call taxis in Japan) even delayed cancelling our ride passive-aggressively long enough that we missed other rides and lost a lot of time.

My friends had even met with a rude taxi driver (I know impossible, in Japan, right?) that refused to take them to a place that he deemed too close in Kyoto.

We also had numerous great experiences with taxis too: accomodating our stops, having lovely conversations, giving out touristic information and they tried really hard to go accross the language barrier. Great people overall. But, having said that, as a tourist, I'd take a Waymo any day over a taxi in Japan just because I think it would be less friction for me.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#124

Post by cbdhsjshs »

I'll be a self-driving believer when Waymo brings autonomous vehicles to New Delhi.

edit - This wasn't ment as disparaging, but perhaps it came across that way. The traffic situation in New Delhi is NUTS. I wouldn't trust myself to drive there, a local driver is a requirement and not a convenience. Crossing major streets as a pedestrian is hard enough, they key is to make eye contact with the driver about to run you over and exchange your intentions through microexpressions. Repeat that 30 times until you reach the other side of the road. Viewing a major intersection from above is like viewing two schools of fish seemlessly swiming through each other. And some of those fish are animal-drawn carts.

I'm in awe of the traffic situation on the subcontinent (as well as many other Indian things - like the word prepone!).

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#125

Post by nixpulvis »

Aeolun wrote: post #97
nixpulvis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a video of a bunch of Waymos backed up on each other being too hesitant to make a turn. Kinda reinforced a fear I have of these things. Not to mention I would hate to try and wave one of these things to turn before me... or wink my headlights. IDK, like I get the appeal for driverless cars, I just still don't like them.

That… doesn’t sound like such a bad thing to me. I’d rather have my driverless car hesitate (in a safe location) than be too agressive.

Can't wait to get locked in a waymo in a bad part of town.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#126

Post by tim333 »

keiferski wrote: post #116
tim333 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno - check out old guy on mobility scooter video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2028301917230649 I'm a little like that myself - not as old at 60 but have switched to an ebike to still go fast.

...that's a meme post of a guy in a mask. It's not an old guy.

Ah so it is! Still I was looking at getting a mobility scooter for my dad, about 85 at the time, though I don't think he would have pulled wheelies.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#127

Post by wlonkly »

k99x55 wrote: post #96
tkgally wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The city where I live—Yokohama—is very different in layout and density from the U.S. cities shown in that video. My neighborhood consists of many small plots of land, each with a different owner, separated by narrow streets. Unless it all gets wiped out by a tsunami, it’s never going to be rebuilt or have its layout changed—the landowners, many of whom live on their plots of land, would not stand for it. My house is…

Cars are the most age discriminatory mode of transport of all: only 18+ and not too old can use it, and most disabled cannot use it. A Bicycles work to all ages, all abilities. In your case an ebike, trike (etrike?) or even mobility scooter might be a much lighter, cheaper, scalable option. Hey why not a self-driving e-scooter? Why does it have to weight 2 tons in the first place? Bike infrastructure is not only for…

I know what you're getting at here and I agree with you in spirit, but:

A lot of life-alteringly physically disabled people can drive cars. For example, lower-body paraplegics and double amputees can use hand throttle and brake controls. Single leg amputees can drive with a single leg, single arm amputees can drive with a knob on the steering wheel, and so on.

And bicycles do not work to all ages in the same way that cars don't. When you can't make safe decisions in traffic a bike can't work. Heck, a tumble off a bike could be the end of mobility for an elderly person.

(I wonder how many places expect mobility scooters to be on the sidewalk vs. allowed on a bike path?)

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#128

Post by GrzegorzWidla »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #118
k99x55 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't fall on the trap of self-driving cars will make our lives better. They won't. Building cities for people first is what will improve our lives. Watch: How Self-Driving Cars will Destroy Cities (and what to do about it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040ejWnFkj0

Almost all of these "cars bad" arguments fall for the trap of focusing solely on the disadvantages of cars while completely ignoring the huge upsides that make them by far most popular form of transport in rich countries in the first place: Long distance transport directly from your home to the front door of your destination in a private, climate-controlled cabin with zero transfers or unnecessary stops. Self-driving…

I have no desire to educate but I have to indicate that there is plenty of research on why people prefer cars and that’s not it.

Still, assuming that walking from home to a train / metro station is a problem has to come from a car centric place. It’s ridiculous. In many cities that is the best part of the day for many people. You rarely hear from people driving that car commute is the best part of their day.

Re: Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo

#129

Post by Ajedi32 »

GrzegorzWidla wrote: post #128
Ajedi32 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all of these "cars bad" arguments fall for the trap of focusing solely on the disadvantages of cars while completely ignoring the huge upsides that make them by far most popular form of transport in rich countries in the first place: Long distance transport directly from your home to the front door of your destination in a private, climate-controlled cabin with zero transfers or unnecessary stops. Self-driving…

I have no desire to educate but I have to indicate that there is plenty of research on why people prefer cars and that’s not it. Still, assuming that walking from home to a train / metro station is a problem has to come from a car centric place. It’s ridiculous. In many cities that is the best part of the day for many people. You rarely hear from people driving that car commute is the best part of their day.

In very specific situations (in the summer on a sunny day in a low-crime area when its just you commuting with no small children or excessive cargo and no time pressure) walking a few blocks to and from a train station could indeed be a pleasant experience. Take away a few of those points though and cars start to look pretty attractive again. Even more so if we're talking about a hypothetical self-driving future where several of the few remaining disadvantages of cars have been mitigated.
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