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Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

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Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay a premium for Waymos. No need to tip, or even think about whether one should tip. The ride won’t cancel on me, which makes it more reliable. (Waymos are also more consistently clean.) I can take phone calls without worrying about my rider rating. And yeah, they’re more fun because they're novel.

The “consistently clean” part won’t last, that’s just because they’re new. In 2010 “they’re consistently clean” was an advantage of Ubers over yellow cabs, which of course is gone now. But I agree with the rest of this.

Last Lyft I was in, the driver had some sort on incense burning. He had window open, but this still made me feel sick.

Can't wait for Waymos to appear in my area.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it lets you use a lower top speed to maintain the same trip time. If you have an EV, you know just how much a few extra mph drops the range. And obviously it's within reason -- if you're shredding tires, you're wasting a lot of energy doing that.

In the context of ride sharing, though, it's likely that you spend most of the time in most rides going much slower than the ideal top speed. Most ride shares are heavily biased towards city driving with frequent stops and relatively low speed limits.

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Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#123

This doesn't surprise me at all. I work in the EU but recently the Americans we hire are very hesitant to have conversations with service providers. They will pay more to use a service that has an app, rather than call up another taxi company by phone for example (and it's not a language barrier problem, because everyone speaks english). I can see this extending to not wanting to have a driver in their taxi. I see th…

Americans have been raised for a couple generations to be afraid of people. "Stranger danger." Apocalyptic news media. A general millenarianism-run-amok "the final battle between good and evil is coming and evil outnumbers us" assumption that permeates much of American culture across the political spectrum. Catastrophizing.

Somehow that had an impact on our social skills! It takes a lot of work to de-program that if you're not a natural extrovert.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#124

The last time I got an Uber, it was driven by a young fellow who looked to be in his first year of driving (I could be wrong), the car smelled like mothballs and was obviously in poor shape, and he accidentally drove on the wrong side of a divided road for a block or so (he was apologetic). The last time I tried a regular taxi stand, the car looked even worse, and it broke down. So, we called Lyft, and the driver cou…

I've been in more than one Uber that smelled like the driver just smoked weed.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#125

The last time I got an Uber, it was driven by a young fellow who looked to be in his first year of driving (I could be wrong), the car smelled like mothballs and was obviously in poor shape, and he accidentally drove on the wrong side of a divided road for a block or so (he was apologetic). The last time I tried a regular taxi stand, the car looked even worse, and it broke down. So, we called Lyft, and the driver cou…

I've been in more than one Uber that smelled like the driver just smoked weed.

I formally report it every time I'm in a car that has the deodorizer turned up to 11 because it makes me nauseous. My worst one was a 30 minute ride to the airport in LA - I thought about just having them pull over and ordering a replacement

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#126
I’ve had several questionable uber rides regarding personal safety and would gladly ride with something with a consistent safety track record for a premium. Recently rode with a visibly sick driver that had had a hard time catching his breath long enough to keep his eyes on the road. Automation doesn’t get sick.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#127
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst is Revel, which, in NYC, are ALL teslas/EVs. worst taxi experience of my life was a 1 hr drive to airport in stop and go street light traffic. I appreciated the hustle but deleted the app soon after my gag reflex subsided. they should at least disable regenerative braking or something

Regen braking is a way of slowing down like drum brakes. It's not inherently any less smooth.

It's likely they mean disabling one pedal driving, so regenerative braking will no longer trigger from letting off the accelerator.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#128
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just driving dangerously Why don't we have a feature to brake or at least beep when tailgating? 2 car lengths at 80 mph is not ok.

All this would do is cause noise pollution. Have you never had the displeasure of riding with someone who will leave their seatbelt unplugged despite the annoying beeping?

People do this? I'd expect them to at least click the belt in and to sit on it. Personally I prefer to not die violently so I just strap in normally.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#129
“Colloquially, there is an idea that autonomous vehicles are something that will erode driver jobs and put drivers at risk. And I think the irony of what we’ve seen is that it’s actually quite expensive to run an AV”

This seems like a temporary problem. Google is charging what the market will bear and doesn’t have ability to get more cars on the road.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the American's you're referencing living in the EU or back in the US? Could the language barrier be a reason for their hesitancy? I've heard stories about gen-z/alpha being more app brained, but most of my peers in their early 30s are generally fine with calling people or sending an email perhaps depending on the service.

> Are the American's you're referencing living in the EU or back in the US? The EU > Could the language barrier be a reason for their hesitancy? No: > (and it's not a language barrier problem, because everyone speaks english) >I've heard stories about gen-z/alpha being more app brained I think you might be on to something there, maybe it's more of a generational thing than a cultural difference between American and E…

German Millennial here, I'd much prefer an app to having to call someone. I hate calling anyone, and I know I'm not alone there. Let me text or use an app and I'm in.
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