81–90 of 138 posts
I'm convinced that Waymo will quietly continue to roll out self driving taxi's to ever increasing areas in "beta" until one day they're covering a significant percentage of the most profitable areas to be a taxi in. Instead of trying for universal self driving, they're going to prioritise being self driving taxi's for the most profitable areas.
I like that Waymo has human backup! Knowing that if the car gets into a tricky situation there's someone who can remote control it back out again is very reassuring.
I also like not having to think about where it parks, what it's doing when I'm not in it etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I should first note that I'm a big fan of waymo and want autonomous to succeed generally. I take both waymo's and lyft/uber all the time in sf and waymo's are way slower. I'd estimate it at 10-15% slower. Once the novelty of a waymo wears off you realize that they drive like a high anxiety teenager and going 15 mph on a 15 mph road, coming to gentle full stop at every stop sign, and being very tentative on turns and…
It stopped at a stop sign?!?!? THE HORROR! Kidding but not kidding. Easily half my Uber rides have been legit scary. Yellow cabs only slightly better. How does Waymo do for cleanliness and odor? That would be another selling point vs regular Uber/Lyft and many yellow cabs. These days they all seem to douse the interior with cheap cologne.
When will this be rolled out to everywhere else?
Zulu time.
I'm convinced that Waymo will quietly continue to roll out self driving taxi's to ever increasing areas in "beta" until one day they're covering a significant percentage of the most profitable areas to be a taxi in. Instead of trying for universal self driving, they're going to prioritise being self driving taxi's for the most profitable areas.
I honestly don't understand the appeal of a private self-driving vehicle as opposed to a taxi-style rental service. I like that Waymo has human backup! Knowing that if the car gets into a tricky situation there's someone who can remote control it back out again is very reassuring. I also like not having to think about where it parks, what it's doing when I'm not in it etc.
I get where I'm going and I send it over the the parking garage a mile away that's cheap, and then summon it back when I'm done with my event, so I never have to circle for parking. If enough people to it, they would probably develop a protocol so that they can be parked at a lot that is super dense and it's a puzzle to get the cars in and out.
And they could still be sold with remote human backup services (as well as giving you the owner the ability to take over if you want to).
I could also send it on errands. Go to Target and pick up my curbside order. Go to the pizza place and have them drop it on the front seat. Pick up my kid from school and bring her home. Go pick up my mother in law and bring her to my house so I don't have to go get her!
And I could use it to drive me to my parents house 350 miles away while I sleep.
I can think of a million reasons I'd want one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a product decision, though. They want people to feel safe, and to build a sustained record for being safe. They could easily hit the pedal if they wanted to. They are doing the right thing.
>They want people to feel safe. "Lawful to a fault teenager" is not what people want in a taxi driver. That type of chauffeur doesn't make people feel safe. It makes them on edge. But unfortunately that's the kind of AI chauffeur regulators want. I agree it's the "right" way to do it from a PR perspective though.
A Waymo drives more like a 50 year old who's seen some shit and drives well but defensively.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In addition to ongoing trips to Truckee, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Upstate New York and Tokyo, the expansion includes testing in San Diego and Las Vegas, with more cities yet to be announced.
They list a few cities but not 10 cities.
I'm convinced that Waymo will quietly continue to roll out self driving taxi's to ever increasing areas in "beta" until one day they're covering a significant percentage of the most profitable areas to be a taxi in. Instead of trying for universal self driving, they're going to prioritise being self driving taxi's for the most profitable areas.
Makes sense. Ten cities are most of the US taxi market.[1] New York City alone is about a third. New York will be tough in several directions, but Waymo will probably succeed there eventually. Meanwhile, they can just scale up in LA.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxis_of_the_United_States
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Also van or bus service is less compelling to individuals, as it makes them beholden to bus stop locations and schedules instead of picking them up and dropping them off when and where they want. Exactly this. The attraction of self-driving transit is the support for individual planning. Everyone gets a direct route to their destination, no delays stopping or detouring for other people. There's also increased safet…
> You're not being hassled, stalked, or threatened by random people. That's an odd thing to say. The only times I've ever been randomly threatened in public were on the road, by another driver.
“You’re just constantly on alert”: Women and Gender-Diverse People’s Experiences of Sexual Violence on Public Transport -> https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10515455/
Uncovering gender-based violence and harassment in public transport: Lessons for spatial and transport justice -> https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09666...
I'm convinced that Waymo will quietly continue to roll out self driving taxi's to ever increasing areas in "beta" until one day they're covering a significant percentage of the most profitable areas to be a taxi in. Instead of trying for universal self driving, they're going to prioritise being self driving taxi's for the most profitable areas.
Are they even profitable in SF or LA? I don't disagree with you, but if being profitable means charging more than Uber/Lyft and having slower trips on average than a human, thats not gonna work out too well. And these are the highest CoL cities in the us, meaning that if its not profitable there, might not be profitable anywhere.