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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

#271

Post by oblio »

kelnos wrote: post #218
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

Well it depends on their competition and what the market will bear. If they have competitors with a similar-quality product that is undercutting them on price, Waymo will have to lower prices to compete. And regardless, there's always a ceiling when it comes to what people will pay. In the case of a robotaxi there's of course significant marginal cost to expand the fleet of vehicles, but if they can make more money w…

> If they have competitors with a similar-quality product that is undercutting them on price, Waymo will have to lower prices to compete.

Oligopoly, cartels, huge barriers to entry into the market.

I appreciate your optimism in the free market for a domain where you have to spend tens of billions of dollars to even enter it

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

#272

Post by fluidcruft »

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…

There's also the issue of tipping. I haven't been in a waymo but I generally tip well in Uber or Lyft. I wouldn't tip a robot. So at least to me $15+$5 tip vs $20 is pretty much a wash.

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

#273

Post by nout »

Last Uber driver I took was solving Rubik's cube while driving, so I can see the value in Waymo actually paying attention to the road. On top of that I know what to expect and I can just listen to podcasts or do whatever. One thing that worries me a bit is the camera that's pointed at your phone in the back...

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

#274

Post by oblio »

KPGv2 wrote: post #192
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

In my experience, most price increases are in labor-intensive industries. Construction, etc. Compare with tech, which is what a Waymo is like: computers, TVs, etc are insanely cheap compared to their equivalents in the past. I had to point out to a Gen Zer complaining about how video game companies keep jacking up prices ("this game for the Switch is $80!") by pointing out that when you adjusted for inflation, a Supe…

What do you think is happening, now that the hyper scalers stopped growing by more than 20-30% per year? We're just entering the maturity stage of the tech world. 10-20 years from now all these subscriptions will reach and exceed cable levels.

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

#275

Post by loloquwowndueo »

fluidcruft wrote: post #272
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…

There's also the issue of tipping. I haven't been in a waymo but I generally tip well in Uber or Lyft. I wouldn't tip a robot. So at least to me $15+$5 tip vs $20 is pretty much a wash.

Holy crap that’s 33% tip!

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

#276

Post by flowerbard »

oytis wrote: post #133

People are eager to pay money to not deal with other people. Which makes me pessimistic about the future of humanity given recent developments in AI really

Threads like these remind me that Hacker News posters and my friends are two completely different types of people.

We don’t mind rideshare at all.

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

#277

Post by Jubijub »

jghn wrote: post #224
duxup wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber has done that to me. You pick a class but what you get seems unrelated. I need more space for luggage and such and ... some "mid-sized" SUV picks me up that has about as much space a regular sedan anyway ... often the same type of vehicle that picked me up the previous day as a regular vehicle.

I believe they bin vehicles by available seating and not by things like luggage.

+1 So you may get say a 7 seater where the seats are folded in the trunk, so you can carry 7 people XOR 5 people + light suitcases

There is no option to say “send me a mini van”

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

#278

Post by Schnitz »

Uber and Lyft’s cheapest fare options are far from what they used to be. Want a timely pickup? Gotta pay for priority. Want a car that isn’t 10 years old and smelly? Pay extra. Don’t want a sketchy driver smelling of weed? Pay extra. The list goes on. Waymo however at least you know you get a clean and safe car.

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

#279

Post by chipsrafferty »

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…

I would pay extra just to never ride in a Tesla. They always make me carsick.

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

#280

Post by siliconc0w »

The real pain with Waymo is that they just aren't as reliably available in a short period, especially at high demand times. Uber can incentivize bringing on extra drivers at certain times - Waymo can't. Unless they size the fleet for high demand peaks - which would be incredibly cost prohibitive, I don't see how they solve this except maybe a hybrid model or they distill their "waymo driver" into something that runs on a standard economy car.
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