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Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

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Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#61

Post by xnx »

askl wrote: post #47
xnx wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving cars are modern public transit. "Train brain" is old thinking that public transit should take billions of dollars and decades to make fixed-route trains that only get travelers part of the way to where they actually want to go.

And building 20 lane highways doesn't take billions of dollars? Putting even more cars on the roads doesn't sound like it would scale well. Aren't they already massively overloaded?

> And building 20 lane highways doesn't take billions of dollars?

Building highways is very expensive, but much much less expensive than new rail. The most cost effective and environmentally sound thing to do is to make the most possible use out of existing infrastructure. As safe and predictable drivers (no fast stops and starts, swerving, or accidents), Waymo smooths traffic for everyone.

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#63

Post by skyyler »

xnx wrote: post #59
skyyler wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trains and busses are far denser than cars, and that's part of the appeal. You can move more people around with less space needed. "Train brain" is working just fine for China and Japan, I think it would work great in the US. Why can't I get on a train from Columbus to go to Philly? I should be able to.

> Trains and busses are far denser than cars, and that's part of the appeal. You can move more people around with less space needed. This is true only for contrived examples comparing the vehicles directly. Comparing the real-world throughput of a highway vs. a rail line (in the US) and the density advantage goes away. > Why can't I get on a train from Columbus to go to Philly? The US has a different approach to prop…

> This is true only for contrived examples comparing the vehicles directly. Comparing the real-world throughput of a highway vs. a rail line (in the US) and the density advantage goes away.

Does it? Can you post some information to back that up?

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#64

Post by xnx »

GuinansEyebrows wrote: post #40
xnx wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving cars are modern public transit. "Train brain" is old thinking that public transit should take billions of dollars and decades to make fixed-route trains that only get travelers part of the way to where they actually want to go.

How are self-driving cars public at all?

Depends on how you define public. The important characteristics to me are that there is affordable transport available to everyone. Government ownership and operation of the vehicles is not important to me.

Government ownership makes the most sense when there is a natural monopoly. There is not a need for a monopoly on urban transportation.

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#65

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

heliophobicdude wrote: post #56

I was expecting a discount. In the onboarding it says "Prices are the same. You won't pay more for autonomous rides." If that's the case, I would rather give my money to a human driver than just Uber.

I wasn't really expecting a discount, but that quoted statement irked me. The way it's phrased, it's basically trying to subconsciously set the baseline that you should expect to pay more for autonomous rides (because "tech"), despite that, as the top comment states, it's not currently a "glitch free" experience.

Pet peeve side note on language - if I see one more article from a tech company about Austin that starts with some version of "Yeehaw", I'm going to go postal. It has all the authenticity of the "How do you do, fellow kids!" meme, not to mention that Austin is about as "Texas country" as San Francisco is.

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#66

Post by xnx »

spelunker wrote: post #49
thefourthchime wrote: post #18

I've been riding Waymo in Austin for several months as an early. They service the central Austin area. In that area, they've generally been available within 5-10 minutes. The routes it takes are optimized for safety, if you compare the time of arrival between Waymo and Google Maps it's typically 20-30% slower to get there. Most of the rides have been without issue, but I have had some things happen: - It hesitated in…

Does the car react to being honked at?

Not that I've ever heard. How should it react?

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#67

Post by erikerikson »

ra7 wrote: post #55
erikerikson wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask Apple?

Apple doesn’t own any factories to make their hardware. Their vertical integration goes as far as hardware design and software. Pretty much exactly what companies like Waymo are trying to do.

It's fair to say that Tesla's vertical integration is even deeper. Might Microsoft Windows or Google Android be a better example than Apple? Does Waymo actually specify the entire vehicle (i.e. have it's own engine design) or just the systems added to the vehicle?

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#68

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

proudestmonkey wrote: post #62
jennyholzer wrote: post #50

Who is at fault if a Waymo is involved in an accident? Who pays who?

If another driver causes the accident, presumably them, but if Waymo causes it, they are the ones paying (unlike Tesla at the moment)

Comparing Waymo and Tesla here is a non-sequitur. Waymo is an autonomous taxi service. They literally are the driver. Tesla does not have an autonomous service where there is no human driver in control.

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#69

Post by gs17 »

heliophobicdude wrote: post #56

I was expecting a discount. In the onboarding it says "Prices are the same. You won't pay more for autonomous rides." If that's the case, I would rather give my money to a human driver than just Uber.

When I was in LA last fall, Waymo was more expensive than both Lyft and Uber. I half suspect it's an attempt to placate human drivers (and/or the corporations that hire them) for the time being.

Re: Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin

#70

Post by rossdavidh »

jennyholzer wrote: post #45
Swizec wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wait, you had to call service to "get out"? In my SF experience, the car got stuck. Trying to leave my pickup spot into rush hour traffic and nobody would let it in. The car then called support and had a human driver do some city-appropriate aggressive driving to force its way into the lane. > What if there is an emergency and you need to get out? I could open the door at any time and leave. But was curious to see…

I would bully the fuck out of any Waymos I saw on the road

You are probably not alone.
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