Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had a few similar cases, often teenagers on bikes coming dangerously close (e.g. forcing waymo to sudden break) and last one one bicyclist just blocking me for 5-10 minutes in SF (also just to be an asshole), with a street full of cars behind all blocked. I called the "connect to support" button and they could not anything. This is the only negative experience I had with Waymo; and I am hope something is done to…
You've got to be kidding. SF police and prosecutors barely do anything about real crimes, never mind blocking a road for a few minutes.
Waymo Premier
351–360 of 561 posts
Re: Waymo Premier
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is also a class marker. I intentionally lived without a car in West Coast city as a younger man, and I learned to be very selective about whom I told. The vast majority of people would assume that the only reason for not having a car is not being able to afford one, and would judge me accordingly.
I only recent got my driver's license again, at 40, after it expired a decade ago. Having a car just didn't make financial sense to me (and still doesn't, I just want the option to be able to drive one sometimes). I had to learn pretty quick that, if this trivia topic came up, I'd need to mention "I lived in NYC so long that I just never used it and didn't realize it expired" because otherwise people would assume tha…
It's inconceivable to most people that it could be a choice.
Re: Waymo Premier
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hope they succeed, for the sake of my mom who's legally blind and has dreamed about them for decades. but I'd be significantly more excited about self-driving if you could buy level-4 AVs that you can actually own.
Can I ask why you prefer that some future technology will solve her problem when actual solutions (such as access vans; public transit; etc.) already exist? And before anyone points this out, if your local government does not offer these solutions that is a political choice of your local politicians. Plenty of local governments all over the world (even in dictatorships) are able to provide these, and changing the pol…
Re: Waymo Premier
#354That first image there ... that does NOT strike me like the futuristic view I think their marketers thought it might. It looks like two ugly regular cars covered in ad-hoc cameras and sensors like they're overengineering for something they don't truly understand.
Re: Waymo Premier
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see this constantly in my industry. Mid-level managers (and above) are always trying to max travel miles on company expense. If I ran my own company (dream!), I would never allow employees to reap "travel miles" from travel paid for by the company. It is ridiculous.
The company isn’t using the travel miles. You’re basically saying, “I’ll take away a small perk from people who are forced to travel.” It’s not like they’re stealing from the company, the company sent them somewhere else and they just got a tiny bonus for it. The proper thing to so is stop those managers who travel too much.
I see this all the time with employees/managers booking a 1000$ flight that will give them 10k miles instead of a perfectly fine 400$ flight that would only give them 4k miles.
Re: Waymo Premier
#356I'd be more interested in a $29/month surcharge if Waymo weren't already significantly more expensive than Uber/Lyft to begin with.
When you consider the required tipping, the cost is quite close. And the Waymo is nicer.
Re: Waymo Premier
#357Cash back is huge for people expensing rides. “Spend company money on us, and take your personal rides every once in a while for free.” Same model as airlines.
Re: Waymo Premier
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
They blocked the Golden Gate Bridge which included ambulances, other emergency vehicles and thousands of people trying to get to work. I'm happy that the DA is throwing the book at them, I hope they bankrupt themselves trying to defend themselves and then spend a lot of time in jail.
While politically i'm on the opposite side of those guys, i do think that such severe prosecution is unwarranted and politically motivated (and may be intended to create chilling effect on all future protests no matter the cause) - blocking a road is a well established traditional form of protest which traditionally is expected to end with (if the judge is in a bad mood) something like disorderly conduct citation/fin…
At the VERY least, the road blockers should be fined the cost they caused to society.
Block Golden gate bridge for 1h30min for 10,000 people (Avg salary $50/h)? That will be 1.5 * 10,000 * 50 = $750,000 damage.
Re: Waymo Premier
#359Does Waymo make a profit yet? This looks like them giving up on being the main robotaxi choice, Teslas will win on scale and cost per mile so they are going for the premium market. Not sure thats big enough to turn into profit.
Teslas also can't drive themselves so I doubt Waymo is worried much about them.
Re: Waymo Premier
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hope they succeed, for the sake of my mom who's legally blind and has dreamed about them for decades. but I'd be significantly more excited about self-driving if you could buy level-4 AVs that you can actually own.
Are cars really the best option? Could other public transit serve the same purpose? (I was once legally blind, still not a fan of cars myself. Though I understand the appeal when externalities are out of the picture.)