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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

#251

Post by kelnos »

idontwantthis wrote: post #220
rcpt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also had one of those drivers who would sleep in traffic. I assumed he was very sleepy deprived and it was stressing me out while we went over hwy 17 in Santa Cruz

Why didn’t you end the ride and get out?

Often you won't realize the problem until you're on a freeway and can't get out of the vehicle. Sure, you can ask the driver to get off at the next exit and bail there, but I imagine a lot of people would feel uncomfortable doing that, even if it's for something serious like a safety issue.

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

#252

Post by MegaButts »

silvr wrote: post #159
passwordoops wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Waymos will get cheaper to make as they scale up. Meaning their profits will rise as they inevitably increase prices

Minority view here I'm sure but maybe profits are a just reward for inventing the future - this is literally science fiction come to life

Self-driving cars are cool but I'd rather have good public transit. These vehicles clearly have utility beyond just public transit, but I'd rather they be an edge case rather than considered a main solution. So yeah, from my perspective the problem is being focused on profits instead of trying to solve the real problem with solutions that have already existed for decades.

If you zoom out a bit, your argument would be more-or-less the same when regular automobiles were replacing the functioning transit systems in the USA, specifically in LA.

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

#253

Post by harmmonica »

pokot0 wrote: post #240
harmmonica wrote: post #137

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…

People don't hate automation. They hate BAD automation. From your description seems like: Waymo -> Good Automation, Call Center -> Bad Automation. The day we will have a chatgpt level automated customer care experience, we will complain every time humans answer our requests, with their accents and attitudes!

Oh man, hope it's ok to poke a little fun. I think we just violently agreed with me praising automation from one company and deriding automation from another. So I'll update your "seems like": Riding with Waymo (IME) -> Good Automation, Lyft customer support when they "stole" $3 from me and didn't provide me with a way to fix it -> Bad Automation.

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

#254

Post by kelnos »

username223 wrote: post #53
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been picked up multiple times by Uber drivers who have, essentially, bragged? about being drunk or high. I've also had multiple drivers in multiple countries try to sell me drugs. I also once had a driver in Chile who, somehow, micro-slept in stop and go traffic every time the car was stopped (which, was actually fascinating, and would've been very concerning if we ever got going more than like 10 mph). Women al…

> I also once had a driver in Chile who, somehow, micro-slept in stop and go traffic every time the car was stopped Imagine how desperate you would have to be to drive a cab when you're that sleep-deprived (probably haven't slept in 36 hours). Now imagine someone took that income away from you to give it to Sundar Pichai. Yeah, sometimes it's unpleasant talking to a cabby, and sometimes he won't take a hint and stop…

I think we're in a lot of trouble as a society if our choices are between a) automating away people's jobs and giving the savings to rich company executives, and b) getting into a car that's being driven unsafely.

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

#255

Post by tomduncalf »

This doesn’t surprise me and I’m not sure it’s about people not wanting to interact with people or whatever - many of the Ubers I’ve got while in SF have been pretty grim (unclean, weird odors, ancient badly serviced car etc) and badly driven. I’ve not noticed this being such an issue in the UK/Europe but that might just be because I take Ubers much more rarely there (with more prevalent public transit etc).

I’d definitely pay more for a Waymo, which is a much more reliably pleasant (and very cool!) experience.

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

#256

Post by ndr »

jeremyjh wrote: post #245
jopsen wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$3 isn't this kind of a small problem? I miss rideshare service, in Denmark we have mess of expensive high quality taxis that you cannot get hold of when you need one.

A tiny problem, that would cost them nothing to fix, and they chose not to. This is a story about shitty customer service, not $3 being lost.

You can dispute via your credit card. They'll care quickly enough.

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

#257

Post by rufus_foreman »

pokot0 wrote: post #240
harmmonica wrote: post #137

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…

People don't hate automation. They hate BAD automation. From your description seems like: Waymo -> Good Automation, Call Center -> Bad Automation. The day we will have a chatgpt level automated customer care experience, we will complain every time humans answer our requests, with their accents and attitudes!

>> People don't hate automation

This is not true.

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

#258

Post by AlotOfReading »

MegaButts wrote: post #252
silvr wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority view here I'm sure but maybe profits are a just reward for inventing the future - this is literally science fiction come to life

Self-driving cars are cool but I'd rather have good public transit. These vehicles clearly have utility beyond just public transit, but I'd rather they be an edge case rather than considered a main solution. So yeah, from my perspective the problem is being focused on profits instead of trying to solve the real problem with solutions that have already existed for decades. If you zoom out a bit, your argument would be…

I've never really understood this "improve public transit instead of autonomous vehicles" argument. They're two entirely distinct funding sources. Nothing is preventing us from improving public transit except the same things that always have.

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

#259

Post by Mordisquitos »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #176
tempestn wrote: post #154

This makes a lot of sense to me. When you ride in an Uber or a taxi, you're a guest in the driver's space. In a Waymo, it's your own space. You can play music, talk on the phone, etc. without worrying about disturbing the driver. You're not likely to have strong odors, or driver's phone conversations. And the experience will be roughly consistent each time. In an Uber, you have no idea what the car or the driving sta…

Maybe it's my rampant misanthrope leanings, but even in more trivial things like choosing automated kiosks other staffed in CVS, I'm just more comfortable not having to make small talk with a person, worry if they're having a good day or not etc. I'd happily pay 20 percent more to Waymo for that personless experience too.

It's interesting how American cultural expectations of forced social interaction may be having the effect of promoting automated systems as a reaction.

As someone who lives in Spain and has lived in the UK, the idea of choosing self-checkout at a supermarket to avoid small talk with a cashier sounds alien to me; we simply don't do that here. While cashiers will certainly chat with certain customers while scanning their items, it's either that they know each other or it was initiated by the customer. I always choose staffed checkout over self-checkout because it's literally less effort for me, but I could imagine American social expectations at checkout —"How are you doing today?", "Oh these apples look amazing!", "Having a party are we?"— absolutely tipping the balance of effort and pushing me to self-checkout.

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