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Waymo Premier

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Re: Waymo Premier

#341

Post by michaelt »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #314
sterlind wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope they succeed, for the sake of my mom who's legally blind and has dreamed about them for decades. but I'd be significantly more excited about self-driving if you could buy level-4 AVs that you can actually own.

Are cars really the best option? Could other public transit serve the same purpose? (I was once legally blind, still not a fan of cars myself. Though I understand the appeal when externalities are out of the picture.)

Cars aren't the best option, but you can drop self-driving cars into an existing car-centric society one car at a time, with the car buyers paying for themselves.

Making a car-centric society meaningfully less car-centric requires the enthusiastic support of that society, along with competent political leadership, and probably a fair chunk of taxpayer cash too. Suburbs with huge lots make for long walks to the transit stop - but densifying those suburbs is not easy.

I don't own a car; I travel everywhere by bicycle and public transport - but the public transport I use was all built in the 1850s. Some time between then and now my society reorganised into a form that has a lot of difficulty delivering public transport projects.

Re: Waymo Premier

#342

Post by CSMastermind »

Their coverage area in Orlando is so limited I functionally can't use the service. Would be nice if they could expand it to at least include the airport and tourist areas.

Re: Waymo Premier

#343

Post by drnick1 »

nradov wrote: post #279
hamdingers wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are cars convenient? Drivers are constantly complaining about inconveniences. Parking, storage, maintenance, repairs, citations, congestion, construction, registration, insurance, the toil of driving itself, negative interactions with other drivers, etc. Are cars predictable? According to google maps, my route to downtown Los Angeles could be 30 to 150 minutes depending on the time of day, the train is always 50. It…

This is very much location dependant. Cars are convenient, predictable, and affordable in most of the USA. People just drive to their destination and park in one of the abundant free spaces without worrying about it. There are only a handful of dense cities where traffic and parking are a huge hassle. Public transit can sometimes be a great option and we should build more of it, but realistically most people will con…

> Cars are convenient, predictable, and affordable in most of the USA. People just drive to their destination and park in one of the abundant free spaces without worrying about it.

This. I don't know what places people have in mind when they say that driving is inconvenient. Even in NYC driving isn't as bad as people claim, except perhaps in Lower Manhattan where there just aren't any parking spots. In most other places, a car takes you from door to door cheaper and faster than any alternative.

Re: Waymo Premier

#344

Post by drdaeman »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #314
sterlind wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope they succeed, for the sake of my mom who's legally blind and has dreamed about them for decades. but I'd be significantly more excited about self-driving if you could buy level-4 AVs that you can actually own.

Are cars really the best option? Could other public transit serve the same purpose? (I was once legally blind, still not a fan of cars myself. Though I understand the appeal when externalities are out of the picture.)

Surely, not until public transit networks covering literally everywhere regular roads can get you.

Public transit is better, but building it outside of dense metro areas to the extent it becomes competitive is probably even more difficult than building a self-driving car.

Re: Waymo Premier

#345

Post by standardUser »

spiralcoaster wrote: post #289
ativzzz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, consider the person is disabled and is physically incapable of driving.

So what you're saying is this hypothetically disabled person who is physically incapable of driving chose NOT to mention that, but instead chose to provide "I never got my drivers license" as their reason? And you're asking someone to consider this because I presume you think this is a likely enough scenario to consider?

Yes, someone is asking you to consider the personal situation of the stranger you are critizing. My deepest condolences for your inconvenience.

Re: Waymo Premier

#346

Post by Falimonda »

Analemma_ wrote: post #83
Falimonda wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a Waymo with safety driver driving around Boston a few weeks back. The concerning thing was just how much it backed up traffic getting off the freeway because they're not allowed to go any faster than the posted speed limit.

"Car obeys the speed limit, drivers lucid with rage" definitely sounds like my memories of Boston.

Going with the flow of traffic is important! Don't pretend you always drive exactly at or below the limit.

Re: Waymo Premier

#347

Post by drnick1 »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #267
jbmchuck wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me a lot of people just really don't like to be associated with public transit or anything associated with anything remotely underclass. It's a class marker to be driven around in an autonomous 6000lbs tank rather than move your legs a bit.

Public transit in the US just mostly sucks. It tends to be sparse, slow, unreliable, and yeah sometimes there are crazies who make the environment feel dangerous. You send Americans over to visit Tokyo and they have zero problems taking the train. The problems isn't with individual Americans.

Americans don't want to live in dense neighborhoods, so public transit is not viable (the operating costs would be too high). Foreigners are often amazed by the quality of life in American suburbs relative to what they experience at home for this reason. Our homes, cars, stores, cafes, are a lot more spacious for example.

Re: Waymo Premier

#348

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

jeffbee wrote: post #326
CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or Zipcar

That system has been walking into the grave for a long time. I am surprised every time I see one.

I'm curious, when's the last time you've checked the parking garages of your nearby university campus?

Re: Waymo Premier

#349

Post by [deleted] »

ok_dad wrote: post #286
throwaway2037 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this constantly in my industry. Mid-level managers (and above) are always trying to max travel miles on company expense. If I ran my own company (dream!), I would never allow employees to reap "travel miles" from travel paid for by the company. It is ridiculous.

The company isn’t using the travel miles. You’re basically saying, “I’ll take away a small perk from people who are forced to travel.” It’s not like they’re stealing from the company, the company sent them somewhere else and they just got a tiny bonus for it. The proper thing to so is stop those managers who travel too much.

[deleted]

Re: Waymo Premier

#350

Post by ShrootBuck »

kevincox wrote: post #312
small_model wrote: post #303

Does Waymo make a profit yet? This looks like them giving up on being the main robotaxi choice, Teslas will win on scale and cost per mile so they are going for the premium market. Not sure thats big enough to turn into profit.

Teslas also can't drive themselves so I doubt Waymo is worried much about them.

dude the waymos in phoenix are dumb asf sometimes, fsd is much smarter situationally
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