obvious paid advertisement is obvious
Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
711–720 of 916 posts
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#712Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re experiencing the early pre-enshittified product. Ubers used to be cheap and excellent too, but then they started optimizing for profit. I assume this will happen even faster for Waymo, just because tech firms have more experience now.
Uber was never child friendly.
in LA all my friend's little kids take uber and Lyft rides to catch Pokemon. don't know what hellhole you live that's worse than LA
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#713Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Uber lets you enable a PIN for each ride. The driver can't say they picked you up until they punch in the random 4 digit PIN the app gave you for the ride.
I don’t know why they don’t require it. Every Uber in Porto Rico uses the PIN but I’ve only had one in the mainland USA ask for it.
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#714Reading the comments here, the experiences people are sharing feels out-of-world since I live in Tokyo and it's unthinkable to have a bad experience in a Taxi/Shareride like that. They've always been very professional, the highest quality I could expect. Cars always clean, driver always polite, etc. Sure, there WILL be some edge case out there, but I've ridden taxis and Uber many times here and not a single odd exper…
> I live in Tokyo
I also live in Tokyo and surely you’re not expecting Japanese taxi standards to be remotely comparable to US Uber or Lyft, right? It’s a race to the bottom in any major US metro. Japanese taxis are refined and designed around passenger comfort. There is a specific model of car for Taxis. In the US you’re rolling the dice on what Uber or Lyft offer.
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#715Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't buy food or pay my mortgage with happiness.
I didn't say it was easy. And I'm not talking about individual action. Governments should incentivize and force different things. Conceptually simple example: construction projects should require sustainability and aesthetics reviews, including, for example, use of better materials and green and walkable spaces. For example I find the butt ugly and cheap American solutions for sidewalks (I think continuously poured c…
What a terrible idea. I don't want my government to "force" things. Nor should idiot government bureaucrats have any authority over something as subjective as aesthetics.
Paving stones are terrible for skates, and not great for running either. Poured concrete is much smoother. And it's not cut with circular saws so I have no idea what you're referring to there.
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#716Earlier quoted context omitted.
Especially since you may have no time to wait for another car. There’s an element of “duress” here
Yes, when you’re tired after a flight with heavy bags, you’re very much being forced to compromise. Any consumer could easily argue why they didn’t have a choice and had to go with what was available.
If you’re just off a flight, you could just use a normal yellow cab.
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#717Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a disingenuous take. Americans value their time probably more than any other culture. I’d rather be able to keep reading a book, read some interesting HN content or talk with my friends on Discord more than have small talk with a random uber driver.
The example starting this discussion was not "avoid talking to a taxi driver." It was "book the taxi with an app at higher cost vs using the phone." No Waymos in Europe for them to avoid the drivers with just yet. Simply spending to avoid a phone call. I'm skeptical we save a lot of time with our technology-mediated world. I think I could say "one medium pizza with pepperoni" and hear back "ok it'll be ready in 20 mi…
> Simply spending to avoid a phone call.
If I’m looking at an app I can read far faster than I can understand a phone call, and often I don’t need to explain myself beyond moving some pins around. “Pick me up by the P1 parking garage across from the fence near the stairwell” and related things. I actually want to use my eyes and look at information and not place my bets on the human on the other side getting all of my preferences right.
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#718Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah I know about Geely and under current circumstances I categorize this as "never gonna happen". There's probably better chance of partnering with GM at this point...
Why would they even entertain the idea of even talking to a Chinese OEM. This is obviously very important technology and Google must know the Chinese history of IP theft. They are not in the Chinese market because of this! Zeeker must have given them such an unbelievable deal that Google couldn't pass it up. Either that or the other OEMs have really soured on them. I always thought the idea of OEMs being reduced to g…
i don't beleive that waymo is letting zeekr have any IP - the plan is to buy dumb vehicles and upfit them.
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#719Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't have to tip an Uber or Lyft, either.
[Caveat: there aren't many Lyft drivers in my town, so I have only used Uber] The problem is their system extorts you into tipping. If you don't tip, the driver will give you a 1/5 rating. If your rating averages low enough, nobody will pick you up. It's more of a bribe you pay for a good passenger rating than an actual tip. As a result, you're forced to tip if you want to use it long term. Personally, I'm hoping Way…
They have to rate long before you tip/rate.
Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway
#720Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why is anyone surprised that a smaller segment of the market will pay more for a safer ride in a luxury vehicle compared to a base model Lyft It's a criticism, because this same segment also realizes that a Waymo ride is WAY cheaper to operate than a human driven one.
> It's a criticism, because this same segment also realizes that a Waymo ride is WAY cheaper to operate than a human driven one. If this were broadly true, Waymo would be everywhere. If it is true, and that’s a big if that it isn’t being subsidized by the rest of Alphabet, it is only true in a very, very, tiny area of the Earth. On the other hand, Uber is a publicly listed company with public financials already opera…
This is true for mature markets but a new technology that a horde of lawyers are salivating over a chance to sue has a significant asymptomatic risk. One accident and the whole business is illegalized.