Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Waymo in Portland

waymo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

471–480 of 607 posts

Re: Waymo in Portland

#471

Post by troupo »

ssl-3 wrote: post #470
fragmede wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Brightline in Florida exists, as does the Acela on the East Coast. These things are entirely possible in the US, we just don't seem to want them enough.

Sorta, kinda. Suppose in some hypothetical future, we can take the (expensive) train to our destination in Somewhere, USA, and it drops us off. So there we are, at a train station in Somewhere, USA. What happens next? A bus? Light rail? Uber/Lyft/taxi? A friend who has time to show up? Renting a car? What's our next move? (Lots of destinations don't have much for local public transport.) For contrast: When I drive my…

Ah yes. The entirely hypothetical situation that doesn't exist anywhere in the world

Re: Waymo in Portland

#472

Post by troupo »

xnx wrote: post #396
troupo wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of potential high-traffic corridors, and the US is still incapable of serving them.

Hard to find an unserved corridor where train makes more sense than plane or car.

US East Cost. The area is about the size of Japan with similar popilation. And there are only a few disjointed efforts.

Re: Waymo in Portland

#473

Post by troupo »

xnx wrote: post #395
troupo wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Passengers are not freight. And freight is one of the reasons US railways suck for passengers.

Moving people by train in the US makes about as much sense as delivering pizzas by barge.

Because the US is soooooo exceptional, right? And yet the moment you provide actual proper train connections the lines are successful and profitable (see e.g. Northeast Corridor.

Re: Waymo in Portland

#476

Post by konschubert »

boc wrote: post #4

I've determined that my ultimate dream car would be something like a Rivian but with Waymo tech, so I can drive it manually when I want/need (snowstorms, off-road), but I can also let it drive me across the country at night while I camp in the back. Would absolutely change the way we move across the US, especially if you have hobbies that involve a lot of gear and equipment.

Yea. With a huge 100 kWh battery and a removable range extender for those extra-long trips :) Plus that battery (and range extender) can also provide power and heating when parked.

Re: Waymo in Portland

#477

Post by charcircuit »

senordevnyc wrote: post #439
charcircuit wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not. Pass a law that continuing to be noisy or disruptive on a bus or train after a warning results in 10 years of prison time with no parole and consistently enforce it. The problem will solve itself without a chicken and egg problem. Problematic people can simply be removed from society to make for a good social environment. Adding more good people is not the only option and in fact only hides the problem inst…

I honestly find it horrifying that you think stripping a person of their freedom and dignity for ten years is a reasonable penalty for being “noisy” on a train. I’d much rather be around the noisy-but-relatively-harmless person than someone with so little regard for their fellow man.

>for ten years

Or longer if they show they are unable to reform while in prison.

>penalty for being “noisy” on a train

That is ignoring the second order effects of the situation. This noise is holding back the flywheel of public transportation that could have economic benefits to millions of people. The penalty is for the enormous cost of holding the rest of society back. The person who has such little regard for their fellow man is the one who is letting the few ruin society for the many.

Re: Waymo in Portland

#478

Post by sensanaty »

llbbdd wrote: post #251
NoGravitas wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of this is just that the US rail system is amazingly shitty by global standards.

The US is a very big, very spread out place. I'm not sure which country has trains that take you directly to your front door.

Where I live in the Netherlands the train quite literally stops in front of my door, as in my building that is ~50 meters from the train station where I can take a train every 10 minutes (15 on weekends) to any other city in the country, and even outside the country to Germany or France.

I'm even planning a Eurotrip by train this summer with some mates, I'd say the distances here are comparable to get from NL to PL for example.

And besides, how is it that the US is "too wide" for trains to work, but apparently building an equivalent highway system is perfectly possible? China is also a massive country, yet they have incredible passenger train options to get cross country.

Re: Waymo in Portland

#479

Post by parodysbird »

rootusrootus wrote: post #318
meowkit wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yesh go to literally any other industrialized part of the world and see how ** backwards the US is on trains I’ve become quite radicalized on trains after visiting Japan and Switzerland myself.

OTOH, on my visits to Europe I am simultaneously impressed with the prevalence of passenger train options, but disheartened by the price. If Europe struggles to provide really affordable trains, there isn't much hope for the US. Aside from regional train options in the densest areas, we just have too much distance to cover. Infrastructure costs would kill the plan. At this point maybe we should just be trying harder…

As a tourist or outsider, the cost of trains in Europe is going to be much more expensive. In the Netherlands for example, the price of a train ticket without a subscription (such as for tourists) is very high; the price of a monthly subscription for free train rides outside rush hour is €130/month, which is way less than monthly cost of car use.

Re: Waymo in Portland

#480

Post by llbbdd »

troupo wrote: post #472
xnx wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard to find an unserved corridor where train makes more sense than plane or car.

US East Cost. The area is about the size of Japan with similar popilation. And there are only a few disjointed efforts.

On the East Coast they have trains that go to the front door of your house?
Post reply on HN