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Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

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171–180 of 397 posts

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#171
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US a plug-in hybrid seems like the best of both worlds. Once the charging infrastructure gets fully flushed out pure EVs will look a lot better.

PHEVs (hybrids with large battery packs) are the worst of both worlds -- weight penalty of a big EV pack, but the complexity/maintenance of an ICE engine. Additionally, rarely used gas can go bad sitting in the tank. Just get a regular hybrid if you're concerned about EV range or don't like the current limited offerings.

PHEV fits the ideal use case of short commute to work every day on EV, and a weekend trip to national park/resort city 400 miles away.

but the downside is maintenance of ICE engine and transmission and all consumables

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#172

Ok, I appreciate that timelines in this space are long. But the opening phrase: "Toyota Motor Corporation (“Toyota”) and Waymo reached a preliminary agreement to explore a collaboration focused on accelerating the development..." reads a bit like a parody of corporate speak about a project nowhere close to happening. Did they agree to deploy? Or reach an agreement to collaborate? No, that's too strong. They will EXPL…

It’s too early to be of much interest to outsiders, but impressing people likely isn’t the intention. By announcing that they’re talking, they don’t need to keep its existence secret anymore or worry about it getting into the news at some random time as a “secret project.”

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#173

The world would be a lot better off if Tesla and Uber get smoked on this. Tesla's public testing of beta quality industrial control software and Uber's attempt to lilypad jump across the backs of financially unsophisticated drivers are contemptible. I'd be very glad to see neither strategy actually work in the end.

Seems like a mixed bag. Parents, eldest sister and eldest all have Teslas and have done cross-country road trips with no problems, and use FSD very regularly. Brother, also the most cynical (and probably on HN), swears it's out to kill him and claims it nearly put him under a truck had he not taken over.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#174
post #159

Ok, I appreciate that timelines in this space are long. But the opening phrase: "Toyota Motor Corporation (“Toyota”) and Waymo reached a preliminary agreement to explore a collaboration focused on accelerating the development..." reads a bit like a parody of corporate speak about a project nowhere close to happening. Did they agree to deploy? Or reach an agreement to collaborate? No, that's too strong. They will EXPL…

> They will EXPLORE collaborating on ACCELERATING development. Compared to "FSD this year", every year for the past five years, I honestly find the approach pretty refreshing.

Except there’s FSD videos everywhere on X with every minor release, demonstrating the progress.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is their beef with full-EV? First it was hydrogen fuel cells and now limitation to hybrid. Seems odd at best.

Not mature enough to Toyota's taste, probably. Hydrogen fuel cell is more about diversification, and it is fully backed by the Japan gov so ROI would be through the roof even if it doesn't "win". Also many countries aren't producing enough electricity ( cough Japan and Germany cough ) so EVs getting popular _at scale_ isn't going to happen tomorrow either.

cannot believe that Japan finds its better to depend on oil from Middle East and import gasoline instead of building one more nuclear plant

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#176
post #174
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They will EXPLORE collaborating on ACCELERATING development. Compared to "FSD this year", every year for the past five years, I honestly find the approach pretty refreshing.

Except there’s FSD videos everywhere on X with every minor release, demonstrating the progress.

Yes, that’s called marketing. Believe it when they do what Mercedes does and accept liability rather than trying to shirk it.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#177
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US a plug-in hybrid seems like the best of both worlds. Once the charging infrastructure gets fully flushed out pure EVs will look a lot better.

PHEVs (hybrids with large battery packs) are the worst of both worlds -- weight penalty of a big EV pack, but the complexity/maintenance of an ICE engine. Additionally, rarely used gas can go bad sitting in the tank. Just get a regular hybrid if you're concerned about EV range or don't like the current limited offerings.

I thought those were programmed to run the engine once in a while regardless of necessity - to prevent the gas from going bad?

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rare earth's aren't rare.

China processes ~90% of rare earth raw materials into actual rare earths

only because nobody else bothered to build processing plants for the low demand minerals.

it is trivial to build and these minerals can be found everywhere

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#179

Ok, I appreciate that timelines in this space are long. But the opening phrase: "Toyota Motor Corporation (“Toyota”) and Waymo reached a preliminary agreement to explore a collaboration focused on accelerating the development..." reads a bit like a parody of corporate speak about a project nowhere close to happening. Did they agree to deploy? Or reach an agreement to collaborate? No, that's too strong. They will EXPL…

This headline brought to you by the marketing department.

Feels more like the typical battle amongst PR, Marketing and Legal.

Re: Waymo and Toyota outline partnership to advance autonomous driving deployment

#180
I know we Americans just love to own cars, what with the rapid depreciation, constant maintenance and massive storage requirements. Who could resist? But isn't the promise of self driving vehicles that we don't all need to own, maintain and operate a 4000lb machine? I know it's hard to resist dropping the $30k, $40k or even $50k and paying that monthly insurance we all love. But wouldn't it be better if we could just summon whatever vehicle we need for the hour and then get on with our lives? And more importantly, don't we all want the benefits that will come from having mostly robo-cars on the road - such as fewer accidents and injuries, less traffic, faster trips and more parking?
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