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Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

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Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#221

Post by FuckButtons »

mmmlinux wrote: post #28

I was in SF a few weekend ago and rode both Waymo and normal Lyft style taxi cars. the Waymo was a better experience in every single way. One of the Lyfts i was in drove on the shoulder for a while like it was a lane. The Waymos were just smooth consistent driving. No aggressive driving to get you dumped off so they can get to the next fair.

They’re a good experience, but consider, the other day I took an uber in sf with a gay taxi driver who sang along to the Tina turner he had on full blast, told me I was fabulous and almost caused a crash at a 4 way stop. 5 stars. No notes.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#222

Post by mmmlinux »

mmmlinux wrote: post #28

I was in SF a few weekend ago and rode both Waymo and normal Lyft style taxi cars. the Waymo was a better experience in every single way. One of the Lyfts i was in drove on the shoulder for a while like it was a lane. The Waymos were just smooth consistent driving. No aggressive driving to get you dumped off so they can get to the next fair.

I also just wanted to mention one other nice thing about the way Waymo worked vs other ride share apps. as soon as you open the app, it tells you how long till you'll be picked up. even before you tell it where you're going. no waiting for some driver to choose your slightly out of the way trip for them. a car just shows up when its supposed to, to take you where you want to go.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#224

Post by nradov »

ang_cire wrote: post #205
nradov wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waymo cars are also more likely to be properly maintained. I've noticed that a lot of Uber / Lyft cars have some kind of warning light on the dashboard: check engine, low tire pressure, overdue for service.

Waymo cars are new. Wait until their fleets are 10+ years old. They'll have all the same bad maintenance issues that airplanes, semis, rental cars, and any other company-owned vehicles have.

Really? I fly a lot and Part 121 commercial airliners seem to be pretty well maintained.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#225

Post by AlotOfReading »

embedding-shape wrote: post #172
GloamingNiblets wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any specific knowledge about Waymo's stack, but I can confidently say Waymo's reaction time is likely poorer than an attentive human. By the time sensor data makes it through the perception stack, prediction/planning stack, and back to the controls stack, you're likely looking at >500ms. Waymos have the advantage of consistency though (they never text and drive).

> but I can confidently say [...] you're likely looking at >500ms That sounds outrageous if true. Very strange to acknowledge you don't actually have any specific knowledge about this thing before doing a grand claim, not just "confidently", but also label it as such. They've been publishing some stuff around latency ( https://waymo.com/search?q=latency ) but I'm not finding any concrete numbers, but I'd be very surp…

Human reaction time is very difficult to average meaningfully. It ranges anywhere from a few hundred milliseconds on the low end to multiple seconds. The low end of that range consists of snap reactions by alert drivers, and the high end is common with distracted driving.

400-500ms is a fairly normal baseline for AV systems in my experience.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#226

Post by astrange »

Swizec wrote: post #59
prismatix wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar experience. A few months ago, I was in the city for a weekend and took Waymo for most of my rides. The one time I chose to use Lyft/Uber, the driver floored it before we even had a chance to shut the door or get buckled! The rest of the time we took Waymo. I rarely use ride-sharing but other experiences include having been in a FSD Tesla Uber where the driver wasn't paying attention to the road the en…

> I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans I’ve ridden in a lot of Waymos – 800km I’m told! – and they’re great. The bit that impresses me most is that they drive like a confident city driver. Already in the intersection and it turns red? Floor it out of the way! Light just turned yellow and you don’t have time to stop? Continue…

I did have one drive straight through a big pothole in LA once, and I also felt like it chose extremely boring routes. But neither of those are very surprising.

Oh, and it doesn't like to pull into hotel entrances but instead stops randomly on the street outside it.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#227

Post by tuhgdetzhh »

vinni2 wrote: post #149
ericmcer wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must be interesting being an Uber driver right now and literally watching the robots that will replace you driving around with you. This has been a 15+ year process and will probably take a few more years. I don't feel too bad if they didn't manage to pivot in that time period.

Actually i spoke a uber driver about this and he said he was waiting for cars with FSD available to buy then he could make his car work for him.

If he can create a buisness of operating a fleet of self driving cars fine, but 99% of regular taxi/uber drivers will loose their job.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#228

Post by dec0dedab0de »

mmmlinux wrote: post #28

I was in SF a few weekend ago and rode both Waymo and normal Lyft style taxi cars. the Waymo was a better experience in every single way. One of the Lyfts i was in drove on the shoulder for a while like it was a lane. The Waymos were just smooth consistent driving. No aggressive driving to get you dumped off so they can get to the next fair.

I feel like I won the lottery whenever I have an aggressive driver that knows the city well. It makes me wonder if breaking the law will be the main value proposition of human drivers at some point.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#229

Post by embedding-shape »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #225
embedding-shape wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I can confidently say [...] you're likely looking at >500ms That sounds outrageous if true. Very strange to acknowledge you don't actually have any specific knowledge about this thing before doing a grand claim, not just "confidently", but also label it as such. They've been publishing some stuff around latency ( https://waymo.com/search?q=latency ) but I'm not finding any concrete numbers, but I'd be very surp…

Human reaction time is very difficult to average meaningfully. It ranges anywhere from a few hundred milliseconds on the low end to multiple seconds. The low end of that range consists of snap reactions by alert drivers, and the high end is common with distracted driving. 400-500ms is a fairly normal baseline for AV systems in my experience.

> Human reaction time is very difficult to average meaningfully

Indeed, my previously stated number was taken from here: https://news.mit.edu/2019/how-fast-humans-react-car-hazards-...

> MIT researchers have found an answer in a new study that shows humans need about 390 to 600 milliseconds to detect and react to road hazards, given only a single glance at the road — with younger drivers detecting hazards nearly twice as fast as older drivers.

But it'll be highly variable not just between individuals but state of mind, attentiveness and a whole lot of other things.

Re: Waymo robotaxis are now giving rides on freeways in LA, SF and Phoenix

#230

Post by Night_Thastus »

panarky wrote: post #219
Night_Thastus wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Twice as slow" is not even slightly accurate. If you're driving 45 in a 40, that may sound like 12% faster, but once you add traffic, lights, stop signs, turns, etc - you'll find that the 12% all but evaporates. Even if you're really pushing it and going 15 over, at most speeds and for most typical commutes, it saves very little. Most of the time speeding ends up saving on the order of seconds on ~30 minutes or shor…

93% of American drivers think they're better drivers than the median driver [0]. This overconfidence causes humans to take unnecessary risks that not only endanger themselves, but everyone else on the road. After taking several dozen Waymo rides and watching them negotiate complex and ambiguous driving scenarios, including many situations where overconfident drivers are driving dangerously, I realize that Waymo is a…

It's not just overconfidence, it's selfishness.

Speeding feels like "I'm more important than everyone else and the safety of others and rules don't apply to me" personally. It's one thing to match the speed of traffic and avoid being a nuisance (that I'm fine with) - a lot of people just think they're the main character and everyone else is just in their way.

It's a problem that goes way beyond driving, sadly.

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