Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Waymo in Dallas

waymo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 751 posts

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#121

Post by JLO64 »

matthavener wrote: post #16
daemonologist wrote: post #8

Service area: https://support.google.com/waymo/answer/9059119?hl=en#DAL

One admirable part of Waymo's service area in Dallas is it serves areas previously devalued by racist redlining. This is in contrast to Uber's Avride and Tesla's Robotaxi offerings, which stick only to the richer, whiter areas of Dallas https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/03/uber-and-avride-launch-rob... https://dallasinnovates.com/tesla-launches-robotaxis-in-dall...

This is somewhat similar to the situation here in LA where they service and very often drive through Westlake/MacArthur-Park which undoubtedly low income. I think it’s for practical reasons though, as they’re not allowed to use the freeways here yet. So for people going from rich areas (Bel-Air/Beverly Hills) to DTLA they need to cross/drive through there anyways.

Even so, I’ve encountered plenty of people who live in those areas and have been able to take Waymos which is great given how sketchy that area can be…

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#122

Post by dylan604 »

epolanski wrote: post #89
cortesoft wrote: post #60

I live very close to LAX, and we have hundreds of Waymos in our area. At first i was a little weary, and kinda weirded out by all of them. They have become completely normal, and cause WAY fewer traffic incidents than human drivers. They are very predictable, and will always let you pull in front of them when changing lanes (unlike a lot of other LA drivers). I have seen a few incidents where they seem 'stuck', and i…

It's very interesting, because on one side we have clear data showing that autonomous cars at the Waymo level are safer than humans. On the other hand we don't give technology the same pass we give to humans, meaning that we don't tolerate machine incidents the same way we tolerate human ones. Which means that self-driving cars need to be a magnitude of order safer than humans. And even though a self-driving car will…

When a human driver messes up, there's a person to hold responsible. When a robot car messes up, who is held responsible? If the human messes up to the point they are no longer allowed to drive, that person is no longer on the streets to cause more mistakes. When a robot car messes up, are all of the other cars pulled off the streets as well until the glitch is fixed? Every robot car is essentially the same driver.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#123

Post by epolanski »

reaperducer wrote: post #107
epolanski wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can that be anywhere near financially sustainable.

How can that be anywhere near financially sustainable. All you have to do is basic math. Monthly car payment (which is higher if you're poor) + monthly gas spent (which is higher if you buy it in a poor neighborhood) + monthly insurance (which is likely to be higher if you're poor, and/or live in a poor neighborhood) + maintenance is very often far less than what it costs to take a rideshare ride 14 times a week. Whe…

Aren't you going 20 times per month, twice, that's 40 rides.

At an average 25$ you're spending 1'000$/month on Uber.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#124

Post by powersurge360 »

epolanski wrote: post #91
smt88 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt this is correct. “It’s expensive to be poor” — a lot of people who can’t afford cars (or have bad credit) end up Ubering to/from work every day

How can that be anywhere near financially sustainable.

If you are curious about this, I recommend There’s No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America. It covers how some folks, with no credit, are forced to live in extended stay hotels (where they take cash up front and don’t run credit) which can cost multiple times what rent can cost.

If you put the author, Brian Goldstone, into YouTube, you can find some recent news coverage of some of the folks from the book and iirc one of them is Ubering in a lemon, working 60-80 hours a week just to break even.

In America, unfortunately, we’ve perfected the debt trap and turned poverty into a profit center. The same equity companies own rental properties, extended stay hotels, and storage locations so they can vertically integrate homelessness.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#125

Post by dylan604 »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #52
raddan wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there supposed to be a liaison in there? "Open to Alls Y'all"

It's not French! Hmm. Maybe in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris,_Texas ?

I'd imagine a total of one Waymo car could service all of Paris, Texas and still be sitting idle for the majority of time.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#126

Post by WarmWash »

runako wrote: post #43
elianaive wrote: post #23

Keeps on being rolled out in red states while being delayed in blue states, quite unfortunate.

Divide this differently: - states where the major cities commonly have snow for > 3 months - states where the major cities commonly have snow for Inclement weather is likely the differentiator. Blue state California gets Waymo in its biggest cities, which handily do not get much snow. The other Waymo cities are all below the Mason-Dixon Line.

NYC has Mamdani, who is a very progressive populist mayor, and a longtime (active) supporter of the taxi drivers union.

There is close to zero chance it gets approval in NYC before 2030. I'd be totally floored if he goes against the union, but the optics are absolutely terrible for cabs.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#127

Post by epolanski »

dylan604 wrote: post #122
epolanski wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very interesting, because on one side we have clear data showing that autonomous cars at the Waymo level are safer than humans. On the other hand we don't give technology the same pass we give to humans, meaning that we don't tolerate machine incidents the same way we tolerate human ones. Which means that self-driving cars need to be a magnitude of order safer than humans. And even though a self-driving car will…

When a human driver messes up, there's a person to hold responsible. When a robot car messes up, who is held responsible? If the human messes up to the point they are no longer allowed to drive, that person is no longer on the streets to cause more mistakes. When a robot car messes up, are all of the other cars pulled off the streets as well until the glitch is fixed? Every robot car is essentially the same driver.

> When a robot car messes up, who is held responsible?

The company owning and operating the robot?

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#128

Post by hvb2 »

epolanski wrote: post #89
cortesoft wrote: post #60

I live very close to LAX, and we have hundreds of Waymos in our area. At first i was a little weary, and kinda weirded out by all of them. They have become completely normal, and cause WAY fewer traffic incidents than human drivers. They are very predictable, and will always let you pull in front of them when changing lanes (unlike a lot of other LA drivers). I have seen a few incidents where they seem 'stuck', and i…

It's very interesting, because on one side we have clear data showing that autonomous cars at the Waymo level are safer than humans. On the other hand we don't give technology the same pass we give to humans, meaning that we don't tolerate machine incidents the same way we tolerate human ones. Which means that self-driving cars need to be a magnitude of order safer than humans. And even though a self-driving car will…

> meaning that we don't tolerate machine incidents the same way we tolerate human ones.

Any company that builds self driving cars or operates them should show how reliable they think they are. Not by showing pr material or stats, that's all 'free'.

Make yourself, as the company, legally liable. If you think it's good, put your name on it and own the risk.

When that happens, I'll trust whoever says it's safe.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#129

Post by cyberax »

warkdarrior wrote: post #67
runako wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Divide this differently: - states where the major cities commonly have snow for > 3 months - states where the major cities commonly have snow for Inclement weather is likely the differentiator. Blue state California gets Waymo in its biggest cities, which handily do not get much snow. The other Waymo cities are all below the Mason-Dixon Line.

They tried to roll out in New York City, but the city did not approve. https://www.twu.org/twu-tech-newsletter-waymo-no-mo-in-nyc-f...

NYC's government is focused on maximizing the pain and inconvenience for its citizens. So this tracks.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#130

Post by lokar »

cortesoft wrote: post #60

I live very close to LAX, and we have hundreds of Waymos in our area. At first i was a little weary, and kinda weirded out by all of them. They have become completely normal, and cause WAY fewer traffic incidents than human drivers. They are very predictable, and will always let you pull in front of them when changing lanes (unlike a lot of other LA drivers). I have seen a few incidents where they seem 'stuck', and i…

I took one to a show at the Hollywood Bowl. Chaotic traffic environment: lots of cars, cones, people directing traffic, pedestrians everywhere. It did great.
Post reply on HN