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Why are people still buying cars? Google's Waymo is going to be available to the public in less than a year... People buy cars and expect them to last between

Why are people still buying cars? Google's Waymo is going to be available to the public in less than a year... People buy cars and expect them to last between 7-10 years. With Waymo soon to be available to the general public, why would anyone want to buy a car and make a purchase that you pay for over 10 years?

uptown 8y ago
Because not everybody’s life or needs are just like yours?
- amyhorowitz 8y ago
  it's a fair question.
exabrial 8y ago
Because not everyone wants to shell out the stupid amount of cash to live in an overcrowded intrusive California city where the government claims half your paycheck.
robbiemitchell 8y ago
Because kids
- taneq 8y ago
  Yeah, there's a whole load of gear that you need when taking kids on the road. Not just car seats but toys, sippy cups, spare nappies, snacks, etc. that you'd have to bundle into and out of the car every single time if you're not using your own vehicle.
  - KozmoNau7 8y ago
    Lots of people seem to do just fine with cargo bikes, or with baby carriages on public transport.
    - taneq 8y ago
      Lots of people seem to do just fine subsistence farming in mud huts, too. Doesn't mean I want to live like that.
      - KozmoNau7 8y ago
        Do you honestly and seriously align choosing a bicycle for transport where appropriate with "subsistence farming in mud huts"? Spoiled children we are in the western world.
    - robbiemitchell 8y ago
      We don't use the car for stuff where a bike or subway would do. We leave town, we stay with in-laws, we go to weddings, etc. We also do these things in bad weather. A suggestion that bikes replace a car for a family of 4 strongly suggests that the author doesn't have kids.
tomcam 8y ago
In our case, because we live in the Seattle suburbs and we don't have a solution to the problems of street people shitting in the buses, threatening our children and causing fights; of banana republic hours and whimsical every two-hour-or-so schedules; of no room in the Park and Ride lots; or of miles-long walks to the bus stops. You sound pretty smart and probably have the solution to these problems. Please share it.
- hprotagonist 8y ago
  Not to be glib, but a bicycle solves a lot of the medium range issues. I have a car but use it sparingly. Anything inside of 15 miles or so is fair game and I’m almost always faster than a car and guaranteed faster than public transportation. Kid and grocery hauling is well within reason. And my weather is about as weird as yours.
  - NikolaNovak 8y ago
    For people in good health, for people with flexibility of time and condition they arrive to target in, for people in cities with amenable climate, for select times of year. Not to be glib, but what about the old, the young, those who cannot come in sweaty to work, those who don't live in Caribbean / those who need to get out of their house more than 6-8 weeks out of the year, those of poor health or limited mobility, those in places which are not friendly to bikes, those who need to go with somebody, those who need to carry stuff, etc? My pregnant wife, my 73 year old dad, my waist-down-paralyzed nephew, my asthmatic self (no made-up examples) cannot take 15 mile trips in Canadian Winter through a place lovingly called "Halton Hills". I have two friends who can. They did for one season, they told everybody how awesome they are, and their bikes are now in the locker.
  - jimmaswell 8y ago
    I drive my car less than half a mile to a Wendy's on a regular basis. On a bike I wouldn't be able to bring my dog, it would be weird using the drive-thru, it would be uncomfortable on all but the few days of the year that are a perfect temperature, and I'd be much less safe in the case of an accident (people don't look at all coming out of this one place they're supposed to yield sometimes). And taking home the amount of groceries that I do on a bike would be impractical, and if put in a backpack, probably hurt my back. I cherish having the choice to take a car to these kinds of places. No way a bike would be faster because whenever there's someone on a bike in front of me on these routes, I have to slow down, and these routes are never badly congested. Admittedly riding a bicycle in a bike lane can be a lot faster in some of the most congested parts of the country like Manhattan, but there often aren't bike lanes and using sidewalks is a point of contention.
Spooky23 8y ago
You don’t pay for 10 years, it has a 10 year life. Waymo will cost way more for a long time, assuming its street legal and available. You buy a car today because it saves you time and provides utility.
pkaye 8y ago
How much will a 10 mile ride to work in rush hour cost on Waymo?
djsumdog 8y ago
Because mass transit is non-existent or shitty in many American cities. Also, we're a good 10 years minimum from viable self driving cars, and people I know in that industry say it's more like 15+. It's a fucking hard problem, and one where you can't screw up. You screw up and people die. Self driving cars also will not clear up road congestion. Even if every car was self driving, they still take up a shit ton more space than a train and transport a fraction of the people. I wrote about this a while back: https://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-solve-the-transportation-problem/ https://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-so...
pretendscholar 8y ago
Why can't you retrofit the car with self driving equipment?
NikolaNovak 8y ago
>>Why are people still buying cars? Because (majority of North American cities, and many others around the world, are impossible, impractical, or difficult to live with without a car), multiplied by (variety of lifestyles, people, locations, conditions, health, jobs). [In reality, I assume you understand the answer to this question but there _are_ people who genuinely don't - their age, health, needs, job, location, lifestyle and wealth are such that they can get away without one, and lacking empathy or bother, don't understand not everybody is in that very specific slot] >>People buy cars and expect them to last between 7-10 years. I bought a new car in 2004 and am still driving it. I go to dealerships for fun with my dad few times a year, but am in no rush to replace. When I do, I'll expect at least 10 years out of it (tricky with the welded entertainment systems these days, but you can still get a car without a Touchscreen, if you try hard ;). >> With Waymo soon to be available to the general public See #1. Some people need a car now; some people need convenience, availability, particular size, etc; some people will be outside of target markets for years if not decades; etc etc etc. Again, I understand the question may have been meant to start a discussion, but I feel there could've been less intentionally provocative ways around it (or, if it were purely genuine, for your own sake, dear goodness, open up your eyes and empathy gland a bit and notice the world around you - talk to or make some friends who are in different positions, travel, watch some TV, etc :-)
- vvanders 8y ago
  Also depends a lot on where you choose to live. In the city? Totally understand an on-demand car service. Out in the country/rural area? You're may want a truck that's matched to what you tow/haul/etc. Pretty sure it'd be against Waymo's ToS to haul your garbage into the dump in places where trash service isn't a thing.
jimmaswell 8y ago
If self-driving cars were out and affordable, maybe I'd use that. Otherwise I'd never go without a car that lets me go wherever I want whenever I want and transport anything within reason inside it. I would never want to live the life of being beholden to the where&when of public transit and having to do grocery trips a few bags at a time, constantly surrounded by strangers. I drive half a mile to a Wendy's from my house fairly often, and I love having the freedom to do that instead of walking or biking.
AnimalMuppet 8y ago
I would bet a moderate amount of money that I could not buy a car equipped with Waymo on July 22, 2019. But perhaps you didn't mean buy. Perhaps you mean "use it like Uber now". Well, I don't want to use Uber for all my driving needs now - why would it be different once it's Waymo instead?
seattle_spring 8y ago
I guess because being stuck within a city and not being able to go hiking or whatever is my personal little hell.
taneq 8y ago
What will Waymo provide except as lightly cheaper version of what Uber provides right now, which again is a cheaper version of what taxis have provided for a hundred years?

uptown 8y ago

Because not everybody’s life or needs are just like yours?

amyhorowitz 8y ago
it's a fair question.

exabrial 8y ago

Because not everyone wants to shell out the stupid amount of cash to live in an overcrowded intrusive California city where the government claims half your paycheck.

robbiemitchell 8y ago

Because kids

taneq 8y ago
Yeah, there's a whole load of gear that you need when taking kids on the road. Not just car seats but toys, sippy cups, spare nappies, snacks, etc. that you'd have to bundle into and out of the car every single time if you're not using your own vehicle.
- KozmoNau7 8y ago
  Lots of people seem to do just fine with cargo bikes, or with baby carriages on public transport.
  - taneq 8y ago
    Lots of people seem to do just fine subsistence farming in mud huts, too. Doesn't mean I want to live like that.
    - KozmoNau7 8y ago
      Do you honestly and seriously align choosing a bicycle for transport where appropriate with "subsistence farming in mud huts"? Spoiled children we are in the western world.
  - robbiemitchell 8y ago
    We don't use the car for stuff where a bike or subway would do. We leave town, we stay with in-laws, we go to weddings, etc. We also do these things in bad weather. A suggestion that bikes replace a car for a family of 4 strongly suggests that the author doesn't have kids.

tomcam 8y ago

In our case, because we live in the Seattle suburbs and we don't have a solution to the problems of street people shitting in the buses, threatening our children and causing fights; of banana republic hours and whimsical every two-hour-or-so schedules; of no room in the Park and Ride lots; or of miles-long walks to the bus stops. You sound pretty smart and probably have the solution to these problems. Please share it.

hprotagonist 8y ago
Not to be glib, but a bicycle solves a lot of the medium range issues. I have a car but use it sparingly. Anything inside of 15 miles or so is fair game and I’m almost always faster than a car and guaranteed faster than public transportation. Kid and grocery hauling is well within reason. And my weather is about as weird as yours.
- NikolaNovak 8y ago
  For people in good health, for people with flexibility of time and condition they arrive to target in, for people in cities with amenable climate, for select times of year. Not to be glib, but what about the old, the young, those who cannot come in sweaty to work, those who don't live in Caribbean / those who need to get out of their house more than 6-8 weeks out of the year, those of poor health or limited mobility, those in places which are not friendly to bikes, those who need to go with somebody, those who need to carry stuff, etc? My pregnant wife, my 73 year old dad, my waist-down-paralyzed nephew, my asthmatic self (no made-up examples) cannot take 15 mile trips in Canadian Winter through a place lovingly called "Halton Hills". I have two friends who can. They did for one season, they told everybody how awesome they are, and their bikes are now in the locker.
- jimmaswell 8y ago
  I drive my car less than half a mile to a Wendy's on a regular basis. On a bike I wouldn't be able to bring my dog, it would be weird using the drive-thru, it would be uncomfortable on all but the few days of the year that are a perfect temperature, and I'd be much less safe in the case of an accident (people don't look at all coming out of this one place they're supposed to yield sometimes). And taking home the amount of groceries that I do on a bike would be impractical, and if put in a backpack, probably hurt my back. I cherish having the choice to take a car to these kinds of places. No way a bike would be faster because whenever there's someone on a bike in front of me on these routes, I have to slow down, and these routes are never badly congested. Admittedly riding a bicycle in a bike lane can be a lot faster in some of the most congested parts of the country like Manhattan, but there often aren't bike lanes and using sidewalks is a point of contention.

Spooky23 8y ago

You don’t pay for 10 years, it has a 10 year life. Waymo will cost way more for a long time, assuming its street legal and available. You buy a car today because it saves you time and provides utility.

pkaye 8y ago

How much will a 10 mile ride to work in rush hour cost on Waymo?

djsumdog 8y ago

Because mass transit is non-existent or shitty in many American cities. Also, we're a good 10 years minimum from viable self driving cars, and people I know in that industry say it's more like 15+. It's a fucking hard problem, and one where you can't screw up. You screw up and people die. Self driving cars also will not clear up road congestion. Even if every car was self driving, they still take up a shit ton more space than a train and transport a fraction of the people. I wrote about this a while back: https://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-solve-the-transportation-problem/ https://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-so...

pretendscholar 8y ago

Why can't you retrofit the car with self driving equipment?

NikolaNovak 8y ago

>>Why are people still buying cars? Because (majority of North American cities, and many others around the world, are impossible, impractical, or difficult to live with without a car), multiplied by (variety of lifestyles, people, locations, conditions, health, jobs). [In reality, I assume you understand the answer to this question but there _are_ people who genuinely don't - their age, health, needs, job, location, lifestyle and wealth are such that they can get away without one, and lacking empathy or bother, don't understand not everybody is in that very specific slot] >>People buy cars and expect them to last between 7-10 years. I bought a new car in 2004 and am still driving it. I go to dealerships for fun with my dad few times a year, but am in no rush to replace. When I do, I'll expect at least 10 years out of it (tricky with the welded entertainment systems these days, but you can still get a car without a Touchscreen, if you try hard ;). >> With Waymo soon to be available to the general public See #1. Some people need a car now; some people need convenience, availability, particular size, etc; some people will be outside of target markets for years if not decades; etc etc etc. Again, I understand the question may have been meant to start a discussion, but I feel there could've been less intentionally provocative ways around it (or, if it were purely genuine, for your own sake, dear goodness, open up your eyes and empathy gland a bit and notice the world around you - talk to or make some friends who are in different positions, travel, watch some TV, etc :-)

vvanders 8y ago
Also depends a lot on where you choose to live. In the city? Totally understand an on-demand car service. Out in the country/rural area? You're may want a truck that's matched to what you tow/haul/etc. Pretty sure it'd be against Waymo's ToS to haul your garbage into the dump in places where trash service isn't a thing.

jimmaswell 8y ago

If self-driving cars were out and affordable, maybe I'd use that. Otherwise I'd never go without a car that lets me go wherever I want whenever I want and transport anything within reason inside it. I would never want to live the life of being beholden to the where&when of public transit and having to do grocery trips a few bags at a time, constantly surrounded by strangers. I drive half a mile to a Wendy's from my house fairly often, and I love having the freedom to do that instead of walking or biking.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago

I would bet a moderate amount of money that I could not buy a car equipped with Waymo on July 22, 2019. But perhaps you didn't mean buy. Perhaps you mean "use it like Uber now". Well, I don't want to use Uber for all my driving needs now - why would it be different once it's Waymo instead?

seattle_spring 8y ago

I guess because being stuck within a city and not being able to go hiking or whatever is my personal little hell.

taneq 8y ago

What will Waymo provide except as lightly cheaper version of what Uber provides right now, which again is a cheaper version of what taxis have provided for a hundred years?