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

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

#351

Post by asdff »

rkomorn wrote: post #299
asdff wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 hours for a few miles is pure hyperbole. In my experience bad highway traffic moves at like 20mph.

It used to take me 50 minutes to go 11 miles on 101/110 from studio city to downtown LA, so 20mph seems optimistic. Heck, it wasn't even all that rare for it to take me 45 minutes to go 5 miles on 101 from Rengstorff Ave to Willow Rd in the Bay Area in 6pm rush hour just because of the exit. It even once took me 2h to make it from Candlestick Park to the 101 after an NFL game. So yeah, maybe 2 hours for a few miles i…

Usually the backup on the 101s doesn't start until around santa monica blvd and clears up after alvarado.

That being said, you also have a heavy rail alternative.

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

#352

Post by quantummagic »

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'm surprised by all the uncynical compliments for the service, by so many on this site. We're just in the pre-enshittification days of this service. It's fine to enjoy it now, but it will definitely get worse once all the competition has been put out of business. Please enjoy these mandatory ads while we drive you to your destination...

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

#353

Post by blibble »

Lammy wrote: post #306
prismatix wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar experience. A few months ago, I was in the city for a weekend and took Waymo for most of my rides. The one time I chose to use Lyft/Uber, the driver floored it before we even had a chance to shut the door or get buckled! The rest of the time we took Waymo. I rarely use ride-sharing but other experiences include having been in a FSD Tesla Uber where the driver wasn't paying attention to the road the en…

> I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans. The one thing you can trust Waymo to do is spy on you. Hurray, more surveillance-on-wheels! Every one of these things has 29 visible-light cameras, 5 LIDARs, 4 RADARs, and is using four H100s to process all of its realtime imagery of you: https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2024/10/…

if there's 4 H100s in there, that's effectively a gold bar in terms of value just sitting there

in a vehicle that is unmanned and unguarded, which anyone can summon to a dodgy warehouse

what do you think will happen once this becomes public knowledge?

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

#354

Post by anigbrowl »

SirFatty wrote: post #88
ericmcer wrote: post #60

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. This has been a 15+ year process and will probably take a few more years. I don't feel too bad if they didn't manage to pivot in that time period.

"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?

That was a slightly different business model, vs a different technology.

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

#355

Post by dqh »

ang_cire wrote: post #192
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #142

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 just like programmers watching AI replacing them?

AI doesn't replace programmers, it's used by programmers for efficiency. Waymo is most definitely not being used by taxi or rideshare drivers to be more efficient.

If a programmer is more efficient with AI then you need fewer programmers, assuming a fixed amount of work is needed. So in that sense AI would be replacing programmers.

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

#356

Post by ra7 »

roman_soldier wrote: post #336
ra7 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can Tesla make its software autonomous enough to match Waymo?

Given Waymo are just now able to go on the highway which Tesla's have been doing for years they are already way ahead. Waymo won't exist this time next year they can't compete on scaling and price.

Tesla can’t go on highway (or anywhere) without a safety driver or a safety monitor in the passenger seat after nearly a decade of development. Not sure I’d call that “way ahead”.

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

#357

Post by Lammy »

blibble wrote: post #353
Lammy wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans. The one thing you can trust Waymo to do is spy on you. Hurray, more surveillance-on-wheels! Every one of these things has 29 visible-light cameras, 5 LIDARs, 4 RADARs, and is using four H100s to process all of its realtime imagery of you: https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2024/10/…

if there's 4 H100s in there, that's effectively a gold bar in terms of value just sitting there in a vehicle that is unmanned and unguarded, which anyone can summon to a dodgy warehouse what do you think will happen once this becomes public knowledge?

Four H100s in an Alphabet datacenter somewhere, obviously.

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

#358

Post by PlunderBunny »

dqh wrote: post #355
ang_cire wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI doesn't replace programmers, it's used by programmers for efficiency. Waymo is most definitely not being used by taxi or rideshare drivers to be more efficient.

If a programmer is more efficient with AI then you need fewer programmers, assuming a fixed amount of work is needed. So in that sense AI would be replacing programmers.

I've never worked at a company that would choose to have less programmers instead of choosing to do more work. I guess such companies exist though.

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

#359

Post by asdfman123 »

quantummagic wrote: post #352
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'm surprised by all the uncynical compliments for the service, by so many on this site. We're just in the pre-enshittification days of this service. It's fine to enjoy it now, but it will definitely get worse once all the competition has been put out of business. Please enjoy these mandatory ads while we drive you to your destination...

There's no way for this technology not to be funded by multibillion companies, for now at the very least.

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

#360

Post by tomduncalf »

bluGill wrote: post #253
ang_cire wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waymo cars are new. Wait until their fleets are 10+ years old. They'll have all the same bad maintenance issues that airplanes, semis, rental cars, and any other company-owned vehicles have.

I expect that Waymo will have standards. In theory Uber does as well, but since the drivers own their own cars they can't enforce them. A 15 year old car that has been well maintained is still safe to have on the road (within the limits of the safety systems on board), while a 6 year old car with a lot of miles that hasn't been maintained can be deadly.

Yeah I’ve almost never got in an Uber that was notably unclean or damaged in some way in London. Most of the times I’ve got one in SF, it’s been an unpleasant experience and so I now Waymo when I can there.
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