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

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

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 456 posts

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

#231

Post by astrange »

ang_cire wrote: post #188
SirFatty wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It must be interesting being an Uber driver right now and literally watching the robots that will replace you driving around with you." You mean the way taxi drivers had to watch as Uber and Lyft replaced them?

It's funny how "exploit workers worse (medallions) and worse (rideshares) until we can fully cut them out" has played out in such a perfect microcosm, and yet somehow people here don't seem to register that it was never the workers' own fault. Taxis didn't lose because rideshares played the game better, they lost because rideshare companies used investor money to leapfrog their apps, ignored actual commercial transpo…

Taxi drivers were already not employees, they were exploited contractors for the taxi companies.

And do you not remember what using Yellow Cab was like in the Bay? It was like being kidnapped. They'd pretend their credit card reader was broken and forcibly drive you to an ATM to pay them.

When I first moved here I went to EPA Ikea, afterwards tried to get home via taxi, and literally couldn't because there was a game at Stanford that was more profitable so they just refused to pick me up for hours. I had to call my manager and ask him to get me. (…Which he couldn't because he was drinking, so I had to walk to the Four Seasons and use the car service.)

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

#232

Post by bugufu8f83 »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #228
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.

I feel like I won the lottery whenever I have an aggressive driver that knows the city well. It makes me wonder if breaking the law will be the main value proposition of human drivers at some point.

We have very different value systems, is the politest way I would react to this. Aggressive drivers suck for everyone else on the road and when I ride with one I feel like I've lost something, not won something.

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

#233

Post by Austin_Conlon »

vasusen wrote: post #92

I am really excited for this. Once going home with my family via Uber in SFO we realized on the freeway that our driver was high and driving at 80-85 mph. It was a really scary experience and I couldn’t do much about it in the moment.

One time my driver had a TV show playing on their dashboard phone on 101.

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

#235

Post by krainboltgreene »

brokencode wrote: post #23
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…

Waymo continues to improve every year, but dumb drivers never will.

Weird, because per capita deaths leveled off in the 1930's and declined from that plateau in '70's to lows in the 2010's.

Did we get less dumb drivers starting in the '70's?

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

#237

Post by throwup238 »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #199
throwup238 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know what you mean by “documented” but here is Georgia: > No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation. [1] Versus California: > No person shall drive upon a highway at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic unless the reduced speed…

> I don’t know what you mean by “documented” but here is Georgia: Georgia isn't going to punish you for going the speed limit in the right lane, they passed that law recently and called it the 'slow poke law'. > On the other hand “in compliance with law” is it’s own barrel of monkeys because it doesn’t specify priority. It really isn't.

> Georgia isn't going to punish you for going the speed limit in the right lane, they passed that law recently and called it the 'slow poke law'.

So you’re saying they had to pass a law clarifying a contradiction in previous laws? Those contradictions were my original point. And it still only applies to the slow poke lane.

> It really isn't.

Oh you sweet summer child.

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

#238

Post by nradov »

ang_cire wrote: post #188
SirFatty wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It must be interesting being an Uber driver right now and literally watching the robots that will replace you driving around with you." You mean the way taxi drivers had to watch as Uber and Lyft replaced them?

It's funny how "exploit workers worse (medallions) and worse (rideshares) until we can fully cut them out" has played out in such a perfect microcosm, and yet somehow people here don't seem to register that it was never the workers' own fault. Taxis didn't lose because rideshares played the game better, they lost because rideshare companies used investor money to leapfrog their apps, ignored actual commercial transpo…

Taxis lost at least partly because the workers were assholes. Refusing to take credit card payments (the card reader is "broken") or not picking up members of certain ethnic groups or not driving to certain areas. Sure some cabbies were nice, honest people with good customer service skills but those were the exception in many cities.

There was nothing stopping taxi companies from raising investor capital to build better apps and back end technology infrastructure. They were just lazy and incompetent.

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

#239

Post by macintux »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #209
potato3732842 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First to apply brake, not first to detect. Normal human drivers tend to lift off the gas and only brake when they decide that just lifting won't do.

> Normal human drivers tend to lift off the gas and only brake when they decide that just lifting won't do Don't EVs light up the brake lights when regenerative braking engages?

As best as I can tell, not universally. I'm rather obsessive about watching brake lights around me; my state doesn't have safety inspections, so I try my best to alert other drivers when they have brake lights out.

I've definitely observed Teslas coming to a halt, and the brake lights only kick on at the very end. I don't know how widespread the problem is, but it's very annoying.

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

#240

Post by krainboltgreene »

some_random wrote: post #49
jeffbee wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't need to travel to learn this: https://www.onlinesafetytrainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/...

Ah of course, all other thirty seven countries of the world.

True, the UK is basically an alien civilization compared to the average american state. No comparison is meaningful unless we compare it to every nation state in the world.
Post reply on HN