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Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

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Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#521

Post by Dylan16807 »

ghushn3 wrote: post #450
silvr wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority view here I'm sure but maybe profits are a just reward for inventing the future - this is literally science fiction come to life

Why? Why is not "everyone has access" and "wellbeing for everyone" the reward for inventing the future? Why is "that person gets to be extraordinarily wealthy" for inventing the future rather than "we all chipped in so we could all benefit" for inventing the future? If Waymos make the world better and safer and more convenient, why are they not simply something we figure out how to make a public good? In Star Trek yo…

> Why is "that person gets to be extraordinarily wealthy" for inventing the future rather than "we all chipped in so we could all benefit" for inventing the future?

Well obviously we want a lot of the benefit to be the latter. But if you don't have some of the former, then almost no multi-billion-dollar-cost inventions get made in the first place.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#522

Post by seb1204 »

buildsjets wrote: post #486
seb1204 wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What qualifies a professional driver? Lots of uber trips? A taxi licence? A chauffeur cap? A clean car? A person being employed by a company? Not sure but I suspect it's highly subjective. You can book a premium Uber. Or a limousine like the one some airlines offer as a business class package.

A sober, competent driver who has not been on duty more than 8 hours would be a good start.

I agree. Just FYI, Uber limits driving time to 10 hours, the requires 8 hours of break. Does not stop the driver from using Lyft during the break time though.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#523

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

kulahan wrote: post #495
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Threatening someone for being a complete asshole is always okay, and even cool. I disagree, but I wasn’t actually there. I only heard one side of the story.

You are disagreeing with the concept, and then saying you only heard one side of… what story? I just do not care if my customer service agent has a bad time after putting me in a dangerous situation. Do people not realize that this is how the world works? If you are serving customers, putting them IN DANGER, yes EVEN if it was at their own request, is what is actually wrong. You don’t let someone ride a roller coaste…

Well, there were no children. It was three adults, but two were women.

I don’t think that it would be OK to threaten any customer service person with physical harm (but it happens all the time, nonetheless. Check out notalwaysright.com), but I also know that customer service people have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their patrons. Kicking folks out in a bad neighborhood could have cost Uber quite a bit, and it’s surprising that there seemed to be no recourse. It’s entirely possible the driver was ignorant of company policy.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#524

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

ghushn3 wrote: post #511
kulahan wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are disagreeing with the concept, and then saying you only heard one side of… what story? I just do not care if my customer service agent has a bad time after putting me in a dangerous situation. Do people not realize that this is how the world works? If you are serving customers, putting them IN DANGER, yes EVEN if it was at their own request, is what is actually wrong. You don’t let someone ride a roller coaste…

> extremely dangerous neighborhood I've lived in urban areas my whole life. Including some of the largest cities in North America. While there's places I consider higher risk, and routes I wouldn't typically take, simply existing in some neighborhood in Milwaukee isn't some existential threat to life and limb. Keep your head down and walk a few blocks to somewhere safer and get a cab/uber/lyft out of there if needed.…

I lived in Baltimore. There’s some truly scary spots, there.

As for booking another Uber, anyone that has lived in less-than-pristine areas, knows that these neighborhoods can be “blacklisted.” You can’t get Ubers or cabs to come in.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#525

Post by Dylan16807 »

autobodie wrote: post #327
kelnos wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So that's fine then? A family of four with both parents working at $23.66/hr each is $3.87/hr above that level. Unless you're saying "starvation wage" and "living wage" are the same thing, which I don't think is a reasonable characterization. Only problem is if they decide to have a third kid, or if you have a single parent with one or more kids. And while I get that unforeseen things happen to people that lower thei…

> I'm also tired of people becoming parents without considering the financial aspects ahead of time. If you're making minimum wage and are barely surviving, don't have kids until you're on steadier ground. Young is abolutely the best age to have kids. Ask biology. If you want a society (I do) then you want a society that supports people having children. If you want a healthy society (I do) then you want a society tha…

While I agree, you've gone way off topic now, though. Because supporting them would be... something like a job that pays $23.66 per hour.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#526

Post by seb1204 »

criddell wrote: post #400
nixpulvis wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isolationism progresses.

What do you propose? Should Uber/Lyft train their drivers better to pick up on social cues to know when to engage and when to shut up and drive? Should they do more to make sure their drivers have good hygiene and manners?

After every ride the rider can vote on the driver. At least on Uber the driver gets 'punished' is his rating falls below 4. The driver will loose his rank benefits. As a rider you got to use the start. If it's ok, then 5. If there is something wrong, less than 5. Simple as that. As most people are voting 5 they seem to be over all ok with the overall service.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#527

Post by notatoad »

dilyevsky wrote: post #300
Animats wrote: post #132

Waymos will get cheaper to make as they scale up. The Ioniq version [1] costs less to build. All the sheet metal and mechanical mods for Waymo are done at the Hyundai factory in Georgia.[2] Waymo just mounts the electronics. Jobs at the Hyundai factory start at $23.66/hour, with reasonably good benefits.[3] [1] https://waymo.com/blog/2024/10/waymo-and-hyundai-enter-partn... [2] https://www.hmgma.com/ [3] https://care…

jags and ioniqs are a midway stop for sure. there's no need to have a seat you can't use with a steering wheel and windows that are not totally blacked out. the final product would probably resemble something closer to Cruise One concept.

the next step has already been announced. the holdup is regulatory approval for less-conventional vehicles.

https://insideevs.com/photos/802937/waymo-zeekr-robotaxi/#69...

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#528

Post by Dylan16807 »

autobodie wrote: post #334
gruez wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Living wage" in that report isn't "starvation wage", though. For the housing component for instance, they use 40 percentile rents. The methodology page isn't too clear about how they determine the next highest cost component (transportation), but it looks like they also use the median cost for used cars. The "living wage" might not correspond to a luxurious experience, but it's nowhere near destitute, either.

It's literally called a "living" wage, and I guarantee you in reality it's nothing more than that, if even. Life tends to always have unexpected costs. I shouldn't need to tell anybody that, including you.

> it's nothing more than that, if even

How do you characterize the poverty line, since it's much much lower?

The entire point of the term "living wage" is that it's fine. Yes including the ability to save up for unexpected costs.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#529

Post by ghushn3 »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #521
ghushn3 wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Why is not "everyone has access" and "wellbeing for everyone" the reward for inventing the future? Why is "that person gets to be extraordinarily wealthy" for inventing the future rather than "we all chipped in so we could all benefit" for inventing the future? If Waymos make the world better and safer and more convenient, why are they not simply something we figure out how to make a public good? In Star Trek yo…

> Why is "that person gets to be extraordinarily wealthy" for inventing the future rather than "we all chipped in so we could all benefit" for inventing the future? Well obviously we want a lot of the benefit to be the latter. But if you don't have some of the former, then almost no multi-billion-dollar-cost inventions get made in the first place.

Yuri Gagarin was the first man in orbit, and that was absolutely a multi-billion dollar invention.

Alan Turing didn't pursue his ideas because he wanted to get wealth beyond imagining.

Mondragon makes billions of dollars annually, and strongly limits executive pay.

I think it's very reasonable to assume that we can, we have historically, and currently do, make multi-billion dollar investments for the good of all. The idea that it requires some profit incentive is, imo, a pernicious falsehood.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#530

Post by ghushn3 »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #524
ghushn3 wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> extremely dangerous neighborhood I've lived in urban areas my whole life. Including some of the largest cities in North America. While there's places I consider higher risk, and routes I wouldn't typically take, simply existing in some neighborhood in Milwaukee isn't some existential threat to life and limb. Keep your head down and walk a few blocks to somewhere safer and get a cab/uber/lyft out of there if needed.…

I lived in Baltimore. There’s some truly scary spots, there. As for booking another Uber, anyone that has lived in less-than-pristine areas, knows that these neighborhoods can be “blacklisted.” You can’t get Ubers or cabs to come in.

Sure, and you know what? If we were talking about Baltimore I might concede some ground here. But unless I'm WAY off base, Milwaukee isn't anywhere close to parts of Baltimore when it comes to "existential danger from walking in the streets".
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