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https://blog.waymo.com/2020/10/waymo-is-opening-its-fully-driverless.html https://blog.waymo.com/2020/10/waymo-is-opening-its-fully-dr... > We’ll start with th

https://blog.waymo.com/2020/10/waymo-is-opening-its-fully-driverless.html https://blog.waymo.com/2020/10/waymo-is-opening-its-fully-dr... > We’ll start with those who are already a part of Waymo One and, over the next several weeks, welcome more people directly into the service through our app So...this is just an extension of what they currently do where it's not really open to the public? Waymo One is something you have to apply for and almost nobody gets in. It's not clear to me what "welcome more people directly into the service through our app" means. Waymo is terrible at PR. I can't even tell what they're trying to say here. But there is no date. There is no definitive statement. It's just another vague press release about how they're going driverless "soon"

jkinudsjknds 6y ago
Sounds pretty clear to me that you can download the app and, in several weeks, be allowed to use the service?
jowday 6y ago
They state the date pretty clearly in the article. >Beginning today, October 8, we’re excited to open up our fully driverless offering to Waymo One riders. Members of the public service can now take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world.
- sandworm101 6y ago
  "Members of the public service" is different than "members of the public". This is still a closed beta. But now it seems you are allowed to have your friends along for the ride. I wonder if these friends and family persons are subject to any NDA.
  - jowday 6y ago
    Sure, I was addressing the date specifically.
  - neil_s 6y ago
    > "I wonder if these friends and family persons are subject to any NDA" According to the article: "take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world"
  - polishTar 6y ago
    Waymo One doesn't use NDAs and users are allowed to bring friends with them, but Waymo also has an "early rider" program that's more restrictive and does use NDAs.
    - Ajedi32 6y ago
      Correct. This article is about "fully driverless" rides (rides with no safety driver present) graduating from their experimental "Early Rider Program" (which includes a small group of people under NDAs) to their public "Waymo One" service (which is a commercial service which requires no NDAs, but still has rather limited availability for now). Waymo One has been shut down for a while now due to COVID, but now that driverless rides are an option they're re-opening the service with 100% fully driverless rides. Once they get around to installing barriers between the driver and passenger seats they plan to go back to most rides having a safety driver, but with some smaller percentage of Waymo One rides continuing to be fully driverless.
- fullshark 6y ago
  So Waymo One riders can now get a ride without a safety driver if they want to? Sounds like the OP has a point.
nemonemo 6y ago
> We expect our new fully driverless service to be very popular, and we’re thankful to our riders for their patience as we ramp up availability to serve demand. I think this explains the reasoning behind the gradual ramp-up. Even at the product launch like new iPhones, the demand is difficult to estimate, so IMO it seems more responsible to give a reasonable expectation to the public like this, than just saying bravely "the service is fully public from today". I think the take-away from this announcement is their commitment for wider rollout over time from this point on.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  Nope. It's a poor press release because that is not what "general public" means. You shouldn't have to analyze the takeaways of what Waymo really meant when they used the extremely common phrase "general public."
  - 8ytecoder 6y ago
    Yup, “available to general public” or “generally available” in product terms usually mean anyone can go sign up for it.
  - dang 6y ago
    Ok, we've shrunk the general public to "more people" in the title above.
lhorie 6y ago
Would it be too cynical to assume this whole thing is going to get shutdown after a few years due to failing to gain enough traction (due to people being wary of Google's track record of doing so with their in-google properties)?
- vkou 6y ago
  Do you really care about the longevity of the taxi company whose cars you are riding in? Half the time, I don't even know which company that is. Or the longevity of the particular farm from which your grocery's tomatoes have been sourced from? This isn't e-mail. The cost and hassle of switching to a competing service is nearly zero.
  - lhorie 6y ago
    > Do you really care about the longevity of the taxi company whose cars you are riding in? I mean, look at McDonalds and Coca-Cola, for example. I'm skeptical about the idea that simply having the SDV technology somehow also translates to being in a leadership position in terms of regulation, customer support, branding/marketing/being-installed-on-peoples-phones, etc etc. Uber already had to fight uphill regarding regulation in many places so it definitely has some moat now (see, e.g. Uber and Ola in London). Waymo is on completely uncharted territory, regulation-wise. I'm also curious about how the economics and logistics will play out. One criticism of existing ride sharing is not accounting for vehicle depreciation and wear and tear (and this on mass produced vehicles). Waymo vehicles have a lot more expensive technology on board, so I'm curious how that balances out in terms of lidar/etc shelf-life + specialized tech inspections vs ROI. Also, cost of switching goes both ways. If this forces the hand of the other players to roll out SDV (via Cruise partnerships for example), Waymo doesn't necessarily stand to dominate the market, since it's already so crowded w/ well-funded/well-positioned players from all sorts of directions.
    - petra 6y ago
      Yes. There are other important factors. But at least for the next few years, technology is the barrier. So Google can partner with Lyft, for example, to get a good brand, app, customer service, regulation, etc. But on top of that, the brand in this market is the promise "our cars are safe". Google is in a distinct place to own that, because of all the press they had, they press they will have, and by really leading technologically. As for this being a commodity ? I believe we're really far from that.
wetpaws 6y ago
Pretty sure this is intentional. Waymo had an insane (decades) head start in regards to self driving technology and was notably quiet about it. While Uber and other folks are all boasting about their self driving project and collecting the lion share of controversy and unwanted attention, waymo is quietly, step by step, heading towards it's total dominance, staying completely off the radar.
- nmstoker 6y ago
  I think you're spot on here. Whilst I suspect they've a long way to go, it seems likely to mirror the situation Google had with early search growth where the more they had people use it the better it got, quickly feeding a cycle the competitors could not compete with.
  - jliptzin 6y ago
    Tesla?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- dzhiurgis 6y ago
  > staying completely off the radar. *off the LIDAR.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

jkinudsjknds 6y ago

Sounds pretty clear to me that you can download the app and, in several weeks, be allowed to use the service?

jowday 6y ago

They state the date pretty clearly in the article. >Beginning today, October 8, we’re excited to open up our fully driverless offering to Waymo One riders. Members of the public service can now take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world.

sandworm101 6y ago
"Members of the public service" is different than "members of the public". This is still a closed beta. But now it seems you are allowed to have your friends along for the ride. I wonder if these friends and family persons are subject to any NDA.
- jowday 6y ago
  Sure, I was addressing the date specifically.
- neil_s 6y ago
  > "I wonder if these friends and family persons are subject to any NDA" According to the article: "take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world"
- polishTar 6y ago
  Waymo One doesn't use NDAs and users are allowed to bring friends with them, but Waymo also has an "early rider" program that's more restrictive and does use NDAs.
  - Ajedi32 6y ago
    Correct. This article is about "fully driverless" rides (rides with no safety driver present) graduating from their experimental "Early Rider Program" (which includes a small group of people under NDAs) to their public "Waymo One" service (which is a commercial service which requires no NDAs, but still has rather limited availability for now). Waymo One has been shut down for a while now due to COVID, but now that driverless rides are an option they're re-opening the service with 100% fully driverless rides. Once they get around to installing barriers between the driver and passenger seats they plan to go back to most rides having a safety driver, but with some smaller percentage of Waymo One rides continuing to be fully driverless.
fullshark 6y ago
So Waymo One riders can now get a ride without a safety driver if they want to? Sounds like the OP has a point.

nemonemo 6y ago

> We expect our new fully driverless service to be very popular, and we’re thankful to our riders for their patience as we ramp up availability to serve demand. I think this explains the reasoning behind the gradual ramp-up. Even at the product launch like new iPhones, the demand is difficult to estimate, so IMO it seems more responsible to give a reasonable expectation to the public like this, than just saying bravely "the service is fully public from today". I think the take-away from this announcement is their commitment for wider rollout over time from this point on.

whimsicalism 6y ago
Nope. It's a poor press release because that is not what "general public" means. You shouldn't have to analyze the takeaways of what Waymo really meant when they used the extremely common phrase "general public."
- 8ytecoder 6y ago
  Yup, “available to general public” or “generally available” in product terms usually mean anyone can go sign up for it.
- dang 6y ago
  Ok, we've shrunk the general public to "more people" in the title above.

lhorie 6y ago

Would it be too cynical to assume this whole thing is going to get shutdown after a few years due to failing to gain enough traction (due to people being wary of Google's track record of doing so with their in-google properties)?

vkou 6y ago
Do you really care about the longevity of the taxi company whose cars you are riding in? Half the time, I don't even know which company that is. Or the longevity of the particular farm from which your grocery's tomatoes have been sourced from? This isn't e-mail. The cost and hassle of switching to a competing service is nearly zero.
- lhorie 6y ago
  > Do you really care about the longevity of the taxi company whose cars you are riding in? I mean, look at McDonalds and Coca-Cola, for example. I'm skeptical about the idea that simply having the SDV technology somehow also translates to being in a leadership position in terms of regulation, customer support, branding/marketing/being-installed-on-peoples-phones, etc etc. Uber already had to fight uphill regarding regulation in many places so it definitely has some moat now (see, e.g. Uber and Ola in London). Waymo is on completely uncharted territory, regulation-wise. I'm also curious about how the economics and logistics will play out. One criticism of existing ride sharing is not accounting for vehicle depreciation and wear and tear (and this on mass produced vehicles). Waymo vehicles have a lot more expensive technology on board, so I'm curious how that balances out in terms of lidar/etc shelf-life + specialized tech inspections vs ROI. Also, cost of switching goes both ways. If this forces the hand of the other players to roll out SDV (via Cruise partnerships for example), Waymo doesn't necessarily stand to dominate the market, since it's already so crowded w/ well-funded/well-positioned players from all sorts of directions.
  - petra 6y ago
    Yes. There are other important factors. But at least for the next few years, technology is the barrier. So Google can partner with Lyft, for example, to get a good brand, app, customer service, regulation, etc. But on top of that, the brand in this market is the promise "our cars are safe". Google is in a distinct place to own that, because of all the press they had, they press they will have, and by really leading technologically. As for this being a commodity ? I believe we're really far from that.

wetpaws 6y ago

Pretty sure this is intentional. Waymo had an insane (decades) head start in regards to self driving technology and was notably quiet about it. While Uber and other folks are all boasting about their self driving project and collecting the lion share of controversy and unwanted attention, waymo is quietly, step by step, heading towards it's total dominance, staying completely off the radar.

nmstoker 6y ago
I think you're spot on here. Whilst I suspect they've a long way to go, it seems likely to mirror the situation Google had with early search growth where the more they had people use it the better it got, quickly feeding a cycle the competitors could not compete with.
- jliptzin 6y ago
  Tesla?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
dzhiurgis 6y ago
> staying completely off the radar. *off the LIDAR.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]