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Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

blog.waymo.com

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Re: Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

#41

Post by twmahna »

holidayacct wrote: post #15

I know everyone loves the idea of self-driving cars but the reality of self-driving cars is really ugly. We need repetitions driving vehicles in order to operate them effectively. If you don't have enough repetitions driving a vehicle when something goes wrong you're not going to be able to operate the vehicle at all. Furthermore, I'm skeptical that driverless vehicles can factor in all the ways in which someone migh…

>> I'm skeptical that driverless vehicles can factor in all the ways in which someone might maliciously cause accidents or damage to these vehicles

You're probably right, but as long as it doesn't happen frequently and there's no way to mislead sensors en masse, it's not a big deal.

There are malicious ways to cause accidents with current-day technologies also. e.g. Park a car in front of a train, fly a drone into a plane, etc.

Re: Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

#42

Post by bpodgursky »

yowlingcat wrote: post #38
bpodgursky wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phoenix has a TON of retired and disabled residents who can't or shouldn't drive (spread out over suburbs), so it was easy to get political support for comfortable transit options that improve their mobility (and don't cost the city anything).

Hope grandma has good life insurance!

That is neither accurate not constructive.

Re: Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

#43

Post by scotth »

fullshark wrote: post #37
actuator wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waymo was started in 2009, they have existed for half of Google's existence. The amount of research and money that has gone into it is not comparable to things like Google Reader. Also, they seem to have the lead over most and the market opportunity is huge.

I'd argue Tesla has the lead. Perhaps their approach has technical limitations that make full self-driving impossible so it's moot but they have the lead.

...so in what way do they have the lead?

Re: Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

#46

Post by sandworm101 »

jowday wrote: post #12
Judgmentality wrote: post #2

https://blog.waymo.com/2020/10/waymo-is-opening-its-fully-dr... > We’ll start with those who are already a part of Waymo One and, over the next several weeks, welcome more people directly into the service through our app So...this is just an extension of what they currently do where it's not really open to the public? Waymo One is something you have to apply for and almost nobody gets in. It's not clear to me what "w…

They state the date pretty clearly in the article. >Beginning today, October 8, we’re excited to open up our fully driverless offering to Waymo One riders. Members of the public service can now take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world.

"Members of the public service" is different than "members of the public". This is still a closed beta. But now it seems you are allowed to have your friends along for the ride. I wonder if these friends and family persons are subject to any NDA.

Re: Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

#47

Post by fullshark »

scotth wrote: post #43
fullshark wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue Tesla has the lead. Perhaps their approach has technical limitations that make full self-driving impossible so it's moot but they have the lead.

...so in what way do they have the lead?

It's not a certainty

Re: Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

#48

Post by whimsicalism »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #32
whimsicalism wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, if they can make this work well then you cut out the driver - which is very cost-saving. It also lets you a. optimize exactly where cars are driving to maximize ride share revenue, b. have the cars ready to pick someone up 24/7. It's going to be a much more efficient use of car capital than hiring a person to drive it.

But it's a very different business model to ride share, which is based on externalising the costs of the car to the drivers.

I agree that it is a very different model, but it's a bit much to say that externalizing car repair costs is what the business model of Uber/Lyft is "based on"

Re: Waymo is opening its driverless service to more people in Phoenix

#50

Post by jowday »

sandworm101 wrote: post #46
jowday wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They state the date pretty clearly in the article. >Beginning today, October 8, we’re excited to open up our fully driverless offering to Waymo One riders. Members of the public service can now take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world.

"Members of the public service" is different than "members of the public". This is still a closed beta. But now it seems you are allowed to have your friends along for the ride. I wonder if these friends and family persons are subject to any NDA.

Sure, I was addressing the date specifically.
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