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Next stop: Miami

waymo.com

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Re: Next stop: Miami

#301

Post by bluGill »

nunez wrote: post #206
bluGill wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huston is in fact building transit. They have a large spread out city which makes it a hard problem, but if you carefully choose where you look you will find people living there who don't have a car and just rely on transit and don't notice any loss of lifestyle.

Houston is adding bus routes, and even those are hotly contested in city hall. The city tried to expand the very limited light rail we have but the vote for that failed. We live in a super walkable part of Houston and still need cars to go to many places outside of (and even within) the Inner Loop. A 10-min journey in a car takes 45+ mins by bus, and that's assuming peak schedules and buses that arrive on time. I act…

I didn't say many were no car. Jus that it isn't as bad as the reputation by a bit. Your experience proves that I think

Re: Next stop: Miami

#302

Post by IshKebab »

dyauspitr wrote: post #243
therein wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF drivers are pretty okay as far as my experiences go. Unless it rains, if it is raining then they'll act like this is the first time they have driven in the rain. Seattle-Tacoma area was the worst. I have never seen so many people drive with so little attention paid to their surroundings.

I was referring to road layouts and obstacles on the roads mostly.

But SF road layout is a simple grid and there are basically zero obstacles on the road.

Re: Next stop: Miami

#306

Post by bbor »

sixQuarks wrote: post #142
bbor wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine it's hard to quantify "profit" with such a research-driven org. It's like penciling out the profitability of the metaverse after years of $XX billion dollar losses. In general I get the sense that Waymo is more of a diverse investment than a pure ride-hailing play; for example, as of 2020 they were working for Volvo, Chrysler, Jaguar, and Nissan[1], presumably for $$$. It's also worth remembering that Zoox…

[flagged]

I really didn't expect such a response from HN! I guess the Elon energy is still going strong. Thanks for staying polite though :) probably the only place on the internet where polite convos about such a divisive topic/figure/company are still taking place.

Suffice to say, I really don't think drive time comparisons by biased unpaid beta testers is a good way to measure viability in this market. Safety, regulatory cooperation, and ethics branding are going to be paramount, all of which Tesla is known to struggle with, to say the least.

Again though, the biggest problem is technical. I think the evidence is objective and clear that LiDAR guarantees a level of safety unattainable with cameras alone. Not only will this slow down development, it also highlights the issues above; how many more "Tesla swerves into a white semi-truck because the sun was reflecting off of it in a weird way" stories could they survive before backlash? Especially when the passengers are random people instead of invested enthusiasts, many of which have their retirement investments tied up in the company's worth.

You can laugh at Zoox, but A) based on what...? it's still in the R&D phase, there's no consumer product to laugh at, and B) there's certainly a lot of smart people still working on it, and money pouring in. Again, (AFAICT as an outsider-) it's night-and-day compared to orgs Amazon has abandoned, like Alexa.

Re: Next stop: Miami

#307

Post by dyauspitr »

IshKebab wrote: post #302
dyauspitr wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was referring to road layouts and obstacles on the roads mostly.

But SF road layout is a simple grid and there are basically zero obstacles on the road.

But they’re narrow, all the slopes, parking on the street, pedestrians and construction make it challenging I think.

Re: Next stop: Miami

#308

Post by IshKebab »

dyauspitr wrote: post #307
IshKebab wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But SF road layout is a simple grid and there are basically zero obstacles on the road.

But they’re narrow, all the slopes, parking on the street, pedestrians and construction make it challenging I think.

They aren't narrow! Slopes don't really add to driving difficulty. Based on what I saw parking on the street generally didn't actually block any lanes - they're mostly designated bays.

I just went to a random location - I promise it's not cherry picked - on streetview:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/5u8BGVgYSnLz9kj39?g_st=ac

How easy is that? I have absolutely no idea how it's going to deal with actual parking on the street like this

https://maps.app.goo.gl/UMwkJau85gMG4txG9?g_st=ac

That's a 2-way road. Quite annoying but pretty common in the UK.

Don't get me wrong - they've absolutely done the right thing by starting in the easiest possible places (Tesla's plan is ridiculous in comparison). I just think it will still be at least another decade before they come to more difficult driving locations.

Re: Next stop: Miami

#310

Post by drewgross »

mikepurvis wrote: post #198
RivieraKid wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe similarly how humans do it.

Humans do it super badly in a heavy rain/snow though. We're basically blind and just toodle along following the guy in front and hoping for the best. A machine driver should not accept these conditions.

On the contrary, sticking strictly to the lane markers when everyone else is blindly straddling lanes seems the worst of all worlds.
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