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Waymo in Dallas

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Re: Waymo in Dallas

#691

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be the same as for any public transport: it's the service operator's responsibility to run the system. The rider doesn't need insurance. I imagine Google has enough money that they can self-insure. Particularly since it's a very low accident rate.

What about criminal implications? PS: i guess the insurance on self diving cars is a little bit different and the accident rate is only part of the picture. Just an example: humans don't get hacked.

Similar legal profile to an elevator when they stopped being operated by people.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#692
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They tried to roll out in New York City, but the city did not approve. https://www.twu.org/twu-tech-newsletter-waymo-no-mo-in-nyc-f...

I personally saw a Waymo in NYC on June 26th at 14th St and 8th Avenue, so they’ve done some recent testing at least.

It's still legal for Waymo to manually drive them around for mapping.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any public dollar that gets contributed to housing ... in the US > Building housing with no parking is not feasible for 95% of deals. You simply won't get financing Because of completely broken land use, transportation polices, building regulation in the US, they are very feasible in many other parts of the world. > if you could hand to your investors and lender an agreement which provides a car for every 3 units O…

> if the were competent they could spend 6 month and few 100 million and build absolutely amazing bus transit system $346 million gets you utility improvements and 2 miles of bus lane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Ness_Bus_Rapid_Transit

Competent is the key here. $346 million would get 10-15 miles of underground subway if they were competent.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't car share in the US, and don't want to. Building arrangements that would rely on them are mostly illegal anyways. Allowing driverless cars to serve buildings without parking would be a huge step forward for those reasons alone. For what it's worth, it's mostly illegal to build a housing that's the only served by buses too. Last, the US has passed the point where it has the cheap labor and government comp…

The unions will always get in the way of cheap transit construction, see the second ave subway in NYC

Unions are part of the problem, but there are lots of other parts that all work together.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#695

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla Cybercab has about three or four times the efficiency and like a fifth of the price by having smaller, two person vehicles. Indeed, the vast majority of trips are taken by single people and it's ridiculous to have a giant machine for them. It would also be okay to have a handful of larger, Model Y-sized vehicles for the multi-person trips. To actually answer your question: Part of the reason why the Waymo cars…

The cybercab would be almost perfect if it weren't for it's low height. It's easier for the elder to get into and out of taller vehicles.

The Waymo Ojai is great for this: large entry, low floor, high ceiling, high seats

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#696

Why are the cars so big? Wouldn't it make sense to have a bunch of much smaller, single person vehicles?

It would make more sense to make them even bigger, and to have one vehicle service many people. Maybe they could even be linked together for efficiency, and put on rails so the self driving is super reliable.

And make those rails go to any destination, on any schedule.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#697
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the easiest way to understand their value is to be a pedestrian. it is insane how quickly you realize how safe and careful they are vs. humans. the "bugs" with getting stuck in intersections and stuff like that means very little to me if I can bike or cross a crosswalk with confidence

Easiest to understand their value as a pedestrian in a place that doesn't care about pedestrian and looks at their deaths as irrelevant. We know a lot about how to improve road safety for pedestrians, but its just not valued in some places. Replacing 100s of millions of cars with smart robot is not safety solution. Actually improving road safety with cheap well proven methods is the solution.

I feel like you have an overall rant about transportation you want to make so just make it instead of adding tangential comments to everything

If you can't go down any street in any country and find people staring at their phones while driving, speeding through stop signs, and making routinely dangerous decisions then you are less aware of your surroundings than the people texting while driving. You are the person this technology is meant for. People who don't pay attention.

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want trains.

Will you use a Waymo to get to the closest train station and then from the train station to your final destination?

Why would I do that when I already have a car which I need to use for every other trip. Once I'm there maybe, last time I did this I rented a car - which given the prices I've heard is likely the only affordable option. (my final destination was several hundred miles from the nearest train station)

Re: Waymo in Dallas

#700

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why does public transit work in other countries with suburbs? Obligatory repost of this video about small towns and cities in the Netherlands being easily accessible by public transit and cycling: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ztpcWUqVpIg I will also point out that a large proportion of suburbs in the US are comparatively brand new developments. While we might not be able to retrofit existing developments, fast-gr…

> Then why does public transit work in other countries with suburbs? To give a clear answer that others have beat around: it is the network. Transit works when you can get places. When you can get many places it doesn't work. The real question is how can Dallas get there - which is a hard problem is you need a massive network investment before it becomes useful to many people and so there is a lot of upfront investme…

That trivializes the problem too much, part of the equation but you also have to have a population that actually wants it along with high enough density that it makes sense. For places like Dallas I struggle with all of the above. Sure some percentage would use it if it was flawless but I think far too few would.
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