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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

#291

Post by asdff »

dekhn wrote: post #220
NullHypothesist wrote: post #2

This is a huge sign of confidence that they think they can do this safely and at scale... Freeways might appear "easy" on the surface, but there are all sorts of long tail edge-cases that make them insanely tricky to do confidently without a driver. This will unlock a lot for them with all of the smaller US cities (where highways are essential) they've announced plans for over the next year or so.

This reminds me of the time I was driving on 101 south of SF and saw a sea lion flopping across the road ( https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/seal-otter-on-freeway... ). It took my brain quite some time to accept that I was seeing what I was seeing. Felt like a real edge case.

There's videos of waymos absolutely decking delivery robots

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

#292

Post by asdff »

edm0nd wrote: post #207
cortesoft wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily this won't be a problem in Los Angeles, because traffic prevents you from ever going over the speed limit.

I remember my buddy telling me it would sometimes take him 2 hours to go a few miles in LA traffic and sometimes he would just walk to work instead because he'd get there faster.

2 hours for a few miles is pure hyperbole. In my experience bad highway traffic moves at like 20mph.

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

#293

Post by asdff »

greesil wrote: post #21

I have seen a Waymo do a very stupid thing where it darted across a busy street, and it left very little margin of error for the oncoming traffic, which happened to be a loaded dump truck that could not have stopped. The dump truck driver was clearly surprised. It was a move that I never would have made as a driver. Did they dial the aggression up? I'm sure they're safer than humans in aggregate as there are some dum…

https://old.reddit.com/r/waymo/comments/1hoermn/food_deliver...

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

#294

Post by kbaker »

andsoitis wrote: post #289
astrange wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> and I also felt like it chose extremely boring routes $$ opportunity: pay $10 extra and Waymo will choose more exciting route.

I mean, if the scenic route is longer anyways, the revenue potential is there to fund it...

just a 'take me the scenic route' checkbox?

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

#296

Post by tialaramex »

Tade0 wrote: post #260
bluGill wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "section control"? A did a quick search and founds lots of possibilities but none that seem to apply to construction zone speed control.

Average speed camera. "Section control" is how they were named in Austria where I've first encountered them and the term translates to something similar in my language, so I assumed that was the English term, but it appears to be a case of Önglish.

Yeah, Average Speed Camera is definitely the terminology in the UK.

This is distinct from just a Speed Camera which is measuring over a very short interval from a single camera, the Average Speed Camera involves two or more cameras, recording people passing different points and working out how fast, on average, they must be travelling to have done so.

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

#297

Post by Yizahi »

iteria wrote: post #104
jjfoooo4 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. People do in fact safely drive the speed limit. If "we'll have too many cars on the freeway following the speed limit" ranks as a serious concern, I think we've really lost the plot. I recently drove by a fatal accident that had just happened on the freeway. A man on the street had been ripped in half, and his body was lying on the road. I can't imagine the scene is all that unlike the 40 thousand other US road…

It depends on where you are. There was a protest in in Atlanta about the speed limit. What did they do? They got in every. Single. Lane. As did the speed limit. This backed up traffic for miles. It stopped commercial delivery and had ramifications for entire area. The protesters were arrested. For going the legal limit. The speed limit did not change, but there is a reason why it's never enforced. I've lived in a cou…

First of all, while I hear about that protest first time, I'm 99% sure that they were not fines for driving under speed limit, but because of the unreasonable obstruction of the left lanes. This is prohibited probably in all countries, regardless of the limits in use.

Second, it is a widely known issue, that a slower mowing car is causing ripple-like delays far from the car itself. For example when a police car is driving inside the traffic flow. But if most of the cars are following the rules, like 95% of them, then one law abiding Waymo would fit just fine. In EU, with the deluge of speed traps and mobile patrols, most of the cars are driving under the limit, and honestly it feels fine. I'm originally from a country where +20 above was like a norm, and fast cars were +40 or more, so adjusting to EU took some effort. But now I don't even feel the need to speed, especially if it is 140km/h highway (86 m/h)

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

#298

Post by supportengineer »

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.

next fare

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

#299

Post by rkomorn »

asdff wrote: post #292
edm0nd wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember my buddy telling me it would sometimes take him 2 hours to go a few miles in LA traffic and sometimes he would just walk to work instead because he'd get there faster.

2 hours for a few miles is pure hyperbole. In my experience bad highway traffic moves at like 20mph.

It used to take me 50 minutes to go 11 miles on 101/110 from studio city to downtown LA, so 20mph seems optimistic.

Heck, it wasn't even all that rare for it to take me 45 minutes to go 5 miles on 101 from Rengstorff Ave to Willow Rd in the Bay Area in 6pm rush hour just because of the exit.

It even once took me 2h to make it from Candlestick Park to the 101 after an NFL game.

So yeah, maybe 2 hours for a few miles isn't quite right, but I've experienced daily counterexamples to your 20mph number too.

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

#300

Post by mikestew »

SoftTalker wrote: post #276
mikestew wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s more complicated than that because several (most?) states have contradictory laws about impeding traffic. No they don’t, you’ve misinterpreted what was written. “Not impeding traffic” is not codified as “exceed the speed limit if everyone else is, or get a ticket”. Or perhaps you have a documented counter-example.

The rule in Indiana is that on a multilane highway you must move to the right to allow overtaking traffic to pass. You are not there to enforce the speed limit; the fact that another car that is passing you might be speeding does not give you the right or duty to block them. "a person who knows, or should reasonably know, that another vehicle is overtaking from the rear the vehicle that the person is operating may no…

The rule in Indiana is that on a multilane highway you must move to the right to allow overtaking traffic to pass.

That's a rule just about everywhere, but that's not what's being discussed. I'm in the right lane doing the speed limit, and OP claims that's "technically" illegal due to contradictory laws. (Where there is no real contradiction, because the Chesterton's Fence is that we don't want Farmer Jones driving his tractor to his fields down I-75 through Atlanta.)

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