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Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

techcrunch.com

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Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#121

Post by linkregister »

kbenson wrote: post #119
hackalaugh wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems potentially unlikely that a consumer could own and (auto-)operate a self-driving vehicle at a rate competitive with Uber & Lyft (or whatever corp.), who could purchase in bulk and have their cars operate for significantly less.

On the other hand, I imagine there will be lots of locations where Uber and Lyft won't serve with their own fleet, either because it's too small, or because it's too sparse. Having a program, or a separate competitor, that allowed people to submit their own vehicles and do their own upkeep might help those areas get served. Then again, those areas might be geographically small enough that you don't need a car (depend…

Yes! The far suburbs of Nashville aren't going to see UberTeslaWaymo fleet cars; the utilization would be far too low. They'll see what they see right now: one or two drivers on Uber or Lyft. And the trip price will be higher to reflect the human driving the car.

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#122

Post by ASinclair »

Fricken wrote: post #49
beambot wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or... they're trying to learn the nuances of operating with and around real customers for their actual application. Too many tech companies (and esp. robotics ones) do their development and testing under limited conditions, and then they're blindsided by real-world realities. Getting contact with customers early is key. It's like the old military adage: No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. In th…

Ya, Uber just wants people to think they provide better service at lower prices than their competition; and the tricksters, they're doing it by working to provide better service at lower prices than the competition. Feeling peckish? Ignore it. It's just the McDonald's corporation trying to raise the value of it's stock.

> Ya, Uber just wants people to think they provide better service at lower prices than their competition; and the tricksters, they're doing it by working to provide better service at lower prices than the competition.

The prices are lower because they're subsidized with invested money and debt.

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#123

Post by marblar »

umeshunni wrote: post #107
autotune wrote: post #13

How is this going to combat people who make a mess inside the vehicle after going 100 percent without human drivers/test engineers? If it picks up a drunk person at 3 AM who then throws up inside the car, is it vomit-aware and knows it needs a cleaning before picking up the next passenger?

The same way ZipCar, Car2Go and every other car-sharing solution deals with this?

"Not very well."

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#124

Post by kbenson »

linkregister wrote: post #121
kbenson wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, I imagine there will be lots of locations where Uber and Lyft won't serve with their own fleet, either because it's too small, or because it's too sparse. Having a program, or a separate competitor, that allowed people to submit their own vehicles and do their own upkeep might help those areas get served. Then again, those areas might be geographically small enough that you don't need a car (depend…

Yes! The far suburbs of Nashville aren't going to see UberTeslaWaymo fleet cars; the utilization would be far too low. They'll see what they see right now: one or two drivers on Uber or Lyft. And the trip price will be higher to reflect the human driving the car.

Well, with respect to the topic of this thread, those are specifically the jobs which people might purchase the car and sub it out to a company for a shared profit. If the cars are autonomous, there's no need for the driver to be there. It could become the equivalent of a paper route, and extra way to make some cash on the side during what are traditionally non-work hours (in this case, the cleaning and mechanical upkeep of the car).

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#125

Post by pm90 »

hackalaugh wrote: post #93
hackerboos wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be nice if we could get to the point where my self-driving car is earning cash as a taxi whilst I'm doing my 9-5.

Seems potentially unlikely that a consumer could own and (auto-)operate a self-driving vehicle at a rate competitive with Uber & Lyft (or whatever corp.), who could purchase in bulk and have their cars operate for significantly less.

That's only if you think that people are 100% OK with using a random car every time they want to travel. I think they would be willing to pay a little extra to own a car to keep their stuff in at all times (e.g. I always leave my Sunglasses in the car)

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#126

Post by sf_rob »

sankyo wrote: post #118

I ride a motorcycle in SF daily and frequently "split lanes". I saw one of the Ubers all decked out with spinning radar and wondered how it would react as I passed through at 10-15mph. There was a person at the steering wheel, I am not sure who was in control. Thankfully it was uneventful. I thought the car might brake or veer away from me.

I'd be curious as well, but after lane splitting in the bay area, my default assumption would be that a self-driving car would react in a safer way. In my experience most lane splitting close calls are due to inattentive drivers changing lanes without signalling or randomly shifting position within their own lane.

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#127

Post by saosebastiao »

bigtones wrote: post #61

Actually these Uber Volvo self driving cars have been picking up passengers using UberX in San Francisco for weeks. They're easy to spot because they have a huge lidar contraption on the roof and a lot of camera's mounted on the roof, rear vision mirrors, and the rear tailgate of the vehicle. The depot they use is on Harrison and 3rd so you see a lot of them driving around the area just south of Market Street, which…

I've never understood why people think traffic will move faster with self driving cars. The status quo is drivers driving well beyond the physical capabilities to stop given the conditions at hand. Sure, they might be able to cut down on reaction time, but they still can't do anything about physics.

Given that these vehicles will shift the risk model from driver to manufacturer, and subsequently programmed to obey the laws (which include right of way), we might actually see pedestrians and cyclists using their right of way instead of being bullied away from it.

The idea that cars can communicate with each other so they could drive closer together and faster is complete bullshit...Sure, it's possible, but what profit-driven company would ever take that risk knowing the real-world reliability of wireless communication?

The idea that they won't drive around looking for parking? Welcome to your traffic jam of the future: https://twitter.com/yann_rouen/status/807781862022246401

Pretty much all the evidence points to very slow traffic in the future of self driving cars. As someone who mostly walks everywhere, I'm pretty excited.

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#128

Post by acedinlowball »

umeshunni wrote: post #107
autotune wrote: post #13

How is this going to combat people who make a mess inside the vehicle after going 100 percent without human drivers/test engineers? If it picks up a drunk person at 3 AM who then throws up inside the car, is it vomit-aware and knows it needs a cleaning before picking up the next passenger?

The same way ZipCar, Car2Go and every other car-sharing solution deals with this?

Well played good sir. I would buy you reddit gold if I could.

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#129

Post by usrusr »

kbenson wrote: post #119
hackalaugh wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems potentially unlikely that a consumer could own and (auto-)operate a self-driving vehicle at a rate competitive with Uber & Lyft (or whatever corp.), who could purchase in bulk and have their cars operate for significantly less.

On the other hand, I imagine there will be lots of locations where Uber and Lyft won't serve with their own fleet, either because it's too small, or because it's too sparse. Having a program, or a separate competitor, that allowed people to submit their own vehicles and do their own upkeep might help those areas get served. Then again, those areas might be geographically small enough that you don't need a car (depend…

If the robocab revolution happens, a lean ride broker where local community pools can offer spare capacity, within well defined availability goals for their members could be the Uber killer. Or Uber itself could be exactly that, given their roots in the claim that their drivers were not taxi operators but just ordinary people who occasionally give someone a lift for money in the cars they own primarily for personal use.

Re: Uber’s self-driving cars start picking up passengers in San Francisco

#130

Post by kabes »

saosebastiao wrote: post #127
bigtones wrote: post #61

Actually these Uber Volvo self driving cars have been picking up passengers using UberX in San Francisco for weeks. They're easy to spot because they have a huge lidar contraption on the roof and a lot of camera's mounted on the roof, rear vision mirrors, and the rear tailgate of the vehicle. The depot they use is on Harrison and 3rd so you see a lot of them driving around the area just south of Market Street, which…

I've never understood why people think traffic will move faster with self driving cars. The status quo is drivers driving well beyond the physical capabilities to stop given the conditions at hand. Sure, they might be able to cut down on reaction time, but they still can't do anything about physics. Given that these vehicles will shift the risk model from driver to manufacturer, and subsequently programmed to obey th…

A lot of traffic jams are so called shockwave/phantom traffic jams and a lot of other ones are where lanes have to merge in each other. Those could be avoided with self driving cars. Maybe in the beginning they will be too cautious for that, but after some time and experience, I'm sure these optimizations will be implemented.

It may not make the traffic in downtown SF faster, but it sure will make the traffic on the 101 from SF to San Jose faster. And good luck walking that.

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