641–650 of 916 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because if they ever become super popular, it will be prohibitively expensive to actually police all the surveillance. Likely to store / process it all. AI does an alright job summarizing videos today (Gemini Flash) but it has to get a lot better if they're going to actually police at scale.
The next rider will alert if something outrageous has happened.
As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…
I've had a couple bad experiences with Lyft recently, including one time the driver must have clicked that they picked me up while a block away, because I could see the lyft driving to the destination without me. I tried to get a refund since I was obviously waiting my start location the whole time, but the system claimed the drive went from start to finish (even though I wasn't in the car), so no refund.
So it may not be intentional. Just coincidence and poor verification.
This doesn't surprise me at all. I work in the EU but recently the Americans we hire are very hesitant to have conversations with service providers. They will pay more to use a service that has an app, rather than call up another taxi company by phone for example (and it's not a language barrier problem, because everyone speaks english). I can see this extending to not wanting to have a driver in their taxi. I see th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People don't hate automation. They hate BAD automation. From your description seems like: Waymo -> Good Automation, Call Center -> Bad Automation. The day we will have a chatgpt level automated customer care experience, we will complain every time humans answer our requests, with their accents and attitudes!
>> People don't hate automation This is not true.
As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…
Before Uber and Lyft destroyed the functioning taxi market, you got Mercedes by default for a traditional, regulated taxi in many EU countries. You didn't have to argue, interact with a surveillance company, interact with customer service etc. All you needed to do is pick up the phone and get a luxury ride without tracking or surveillance.
Was it? In many EU countries a lot of taxi drivers act like scammers: take you the long way around, they don't issue you receipt by default because they do tax fraud or steal from their employer, you can't pay by card because suddenly the card machine "doesn't work" so they drive you to an ATM, then you pay cash and they try to keep the change, they don't speak English or even the local language, they don't know the local streets or landmarks you're referring to because they're not from there, etc. All that is super annoying. Multiply it if you're a tourist or on a business trip or job interview.
Ride sharing fixed all that since you just punched in the destination in the app (in your own language) and got the price upfront and shielded you from the antics of scammy drivers and the friction of getting to your destination. That's why ride sharing apps were so successful initially.
It wasn't about the price, it was about the friction or lack thereof.
>you got Mercedes by default for a traditional, regulated taxi in many EU countries
Mostly IIRC Berlin, Brussels, Stockholm and some other rich countries, definitely not EU wide.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s straight up false. I don’t tip and my Uber passenger rating was ~4.95 last I checked.
A single anecdote does not a dataset make
If he does it's indeed a bit weird (in a country where tipping is almost mandatory).
This is as much about Uber/Lyft, as it is about the (nonexistent) level of politeness in the vest (US+Europe). Have you ever taken a Uber in Japan? The driver will make him/herself invisible. The space in the car is, factually, your space. No phone conversations on their part, no music, no odours. Waymo won't thrive in Japan, because it offers nothing extra advantages to regular Uber. We suck in the west in terms of…
so, in your opinion, the best way to be polite is to not exist? that's a nice outlook on humanity
The converse to your claim is: the only way to exist is to intrude on other people space (by loud talking, hearing music etc).;)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So basically, you’re admitting key elements of your original story were made up? > A Waymo could do the same, I guess, but they could also sit in it until the company contacted them, or the cops showed up. How’s this different from an uber? If this guy is as big and strong as you say, the uber driver has no more ability to force him out than a Waymo does.
> So basically, you’re admitting key elements of your original story were made up? Sure, and I regret it. I didn’t think it was a “key element.” The part that struck me, was the inflexibility of the driver. A real cabbie might laugh at you, but happily take more money to get out of there. If he had refused to leave (which he did), then the driver might be legitimately worried. It sounds like the driver didn’t really…
Apparently, the way that it works, is that the cab takes you to a bad neighborhood, then tells you to get out, unless you pay. If my friend had tried getting physical, he would have been staring into the muzzle of a .38, so the talk of physical threats was likely bullshit face-saving. He also said that the driver won't relent for less than $100, so it's likely my other friend was fleeced pretty bad.
The way it works, is that the "cabbie" looks for parties with women and/or children, because that means there's unlikely to be a problem. They look at hotels, because that means out-of-towners, and there’s a lot fewer cops around than airports (this chap was disturbingly familiar with the technique. Many of my friends are former Bad People).
With Uber, and the way that they track drivers, he suggested that the person who picked them up, was probably not the contracted driver, but was in cahoots with the driver. The call was canceled by the real driver as a "no-show," and the ride was never on the clock, or the driver drove empty.
People suck.
As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…
Before Uber and Lyft destroyed the functioning taxi market, you got Mercedes by default for a traditional, regulated taxi in many EU countries. You didn't have to argue, interact with a surveillance company, interact with customer service etc. All you needed to do is pick up the phone and get a luxury ride without tracking or surveillance.
