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Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

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Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#371

Post by BugsJustFindMe »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #314
killion wrote: post #213

This looks like a clickbait study. Waymo is cheaper 100% of the time for me. The two big data points I think they purposely glossed over are: 1. Tip – Uber and Lyft cost 20% more than the ride price. 2. Car quality – Sure, a Corolla on Lyft is cheaper than Waymo. But once you select something desirable the price goes up, a lot.

>Tip – Uber and Lyft cost 20% more than the ride price. Idk maybe because I used rideshare apps before they added tipping, but even as someone who tips 20% at restaurants I don't tip rideshares. The original argument Uber had for not adding it was because 'the fare included it', but seeing people now see it as required does kind of backup why they dragged their feet on adding it.

> but even as someone who tips 20% at restaurants I don't tip rideshares.

Does this not affect your rating?

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#372

Post by theamk »

chipsrafferty wrote: post #313
tempestn wrote: post #154

This makes a lot of sense to me. When you ride in an Uber or a taxi, you're a guest in the driver's space. In a Waymo, it's your own space. You can play music, talk on the phone, etc. without worrying about disturbing the driver. You're not likely to have strong odors, or driver's phone conversations. And the experience will be roughly consistent each time. In an Uber, you have no idea what the car or the driving sta…

Are they cleaned after each rider? How can they not build up an odor, lol

No driver is going to be smoking in Waymo car. (And if a passenger smokes, they'll be charged $100)

I assume there are also industrial-strength cleaners during the downtime/refueling.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#373

Post by Scoundreller »

sundaeofshock wrote: post #38
agumonkey wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about driving safety ?

Very safe. They obey most traffic rules and don’t do stupid things. I have friends who commute in bike and say they feel safer with Waymo’s on the street. As a pedestrian, I appreciate them since I don’t worry it might run me over when I’m crossing the street.

Once every vehicle is a Waymo/autonomous, can we all jay-walk with impunity?

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#374

Post by ldjkfkdsjnv »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #309
ec109685 wrote: post #129

“Colloquially, there is an idea that autonomous vehicles are something that will erode driver jobs and put drivers at risk. And I think the irony of what we’ve seen is that it’s actually quite expensive to run an AV” This seems like a temporary problem. Google is charging what the market will bear and doesn’t have ability to get more cars on the road.

The simpler explanation is that Google mismanages its pay-per-use consumer-facing products. Consider Google One and YouTube Premium are also overpriced, and everyone tells them so. It's obviously a mistake to charge more than Uber or Lyft, it's crazy obvious, like mind meltingly obvious. Sometimes it's just the obvious thing. Google's problem is that its management is so bad, it doesn't understand: just because somet…

"One of the most valuable companies on the planet is mismanaging its products"

see the issue with that assertion?

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#375

Post by jgerrish »

chipsrafferty wrote: post #317
1024core wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other day I almost got ran over by an old lady in her old Volvo wagon at a stop sign. She seemed to have gotten confused a little and was turning left but couldn't figure out the right move to make. People behind her honked and she decided to just go for it. I happened to be in the crosswalk and just happened to look over at the honking, and saw her coming, so managed to jump out of her way. She was easily over 9…

Why sell a car when you can charge per ride?

Well, you wouldn't have to sell the car. You could also setup a licensing / loan / dedicated car system.

It would work well for local municipalities that want to provide low-cost door-to-door service for the elderly.

We have a bus service here, The ART, and a dedicates "paratransit" bus service that provides door-to-door service to eligible riders.

And a couple private large-scale developed and managed neighborhoods that have driverless non-automated (remote controlled) transit systems.

If you know a large portion of your riders have disabilities, dedicated buses or vans make sense.

I'm sitting here advocating for this, and it's a great service that I'm glad they have it for those in need, and yet I need fucking plywood for hurricanes myself.

Yeah, it is Florida. But honestly, the transit system here and bike infrastructure development and traffic planning is good.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#376

Post by kilroy123 »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #32

A robot isn’t going to decide it doesn’t want to take my ride after accepting it and drive around aimlessly hoping I’ll get tired of waiting and cancel. I haven’t needed Uber/Lyft on a regular basis in several years, but back when I did that was a frequently recurring problem.

This happens so much now. It's infuriating. I wish they would put a stop to this. A few weeks ago, I had multiple Uber drivers do this. Eventually, I gave up and ordered a Waymo because they were the only ones who would pick me up.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#377

Post by jbombadil »

There's still a "wow factor" associated with this. I live in a city that doesn't have Waymo. I recently had a work trip to a city that does. Waymo was 25% more expensive than Uber (~15 vs ~20). I still took Waymo because I don't get to experience it often, so it's fun to be in a driverless car. If I had constant access to Waymo, I would have probably chosen the cheapest option.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#378

Post by ghaff »

liveoneggs wrote: post #320
harmmonica wrote: post #137

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…

all "cab"-like cars that are not shaped like London Black Cabs are failures. The seating and luggage carrying is so much better than a regular car it makes me sick.

And then you'll find plenty of people on here that hate on Black Cabs as ridiculously over priced.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#379

Post by UrMomsRobotLovr »

The driving is much more comfortable than Uber or Lyft. Taking them through San Francisco I find they gentler on hills, accelerate and break more mildly, and don’t try to drop you in unsafe places.

They’re just better drivers than people and that comfort is worth the up charge.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#380

Post by gruez »

autobodie wrote: post #334
gruez wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Living wage" in that report isn't "starvation wage", though. For the housing component for instance, they use 40 percentile rents. The methodology page isn't too clear about how they determine the next highest cost component (transportation), but it looks like they also use the median cost for used cars. The "living wage" might not correspond to a luxurious experience, but it's nowhere near destitute, either.

It's literally called a "living" wage, and I guarantee you in reality it's nothing more than that, if even. Life tends to always have unexpected costs. I shouldn't need to tell anybody that, including you.

>It's literally called a "living" wage, and I guarantee you in reality it's nothing more than that

Did you read the methodology page or even my comment? I made specific objections with the methodology and you didn't even address them.

>Life tends to always have unexpected costs. I shouldn't need to tell anybody that, including you.

I shouldn't have to tell you that if you read the methodology page, you'd see there's a specific category for "Other necessities" and "Civic engagement" (whatever that means), and I'm not objecting to those categories.

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