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Has anyone tried it recently? Does it work well? How does the price compare to Uber?

jeffbee 3y ago
I take them in SF regularly, for trips that aren't well-served by Muni. It works well. I've never had even the slightest criticism of how it drives. Compared to Uber, it costs more but never drives on the sidewalk and doesn't operate a Prius with 900,000 miles on the odometer and no windshield wipers.
milesskorpen 3y ago
My impression, using it ~1x/week in SF: Slightly more expensive than uber (+10%?). Takes a bit longer to show up (+25%?). Utterly magical experience.
- whimsicalism 3y ago
  where I live, show up time is usually around 7-20 minutes compared to around 2-4 for Uber. in the west of the city, it is more commonly ~15-20
Kronopath 3y ago
In SF, up-front prices have been comparable to Uber’s, except that you don’t have to pay tip, which automatically makes it 15–20% cheaper. The few times I’ve tried it, the service has been good and its driving was safe. The only downside is that there seems to sometimes be longer wait times.
- bossyTeacher 3y ago
  In europe, you don't pay tips to uber drivers. Surely, if the tip is compulsory, it should be called a service fee
  - whimsicalism 3y ago
    it's not compulsory and culture is different in US
  - Kronopath 3y ago
    Legally, it’s not compulsory. Socially and culturally, it definitely is. In the US, if you don’t tip 15%, you’re either an asshole, or you’re saying there’s severe issues with the service. I’m not going justify this culture—I don’t like it either—but that is the way it is.
    - relativ575 3y ago
      I'm in the US and a frequent Uber users, and I've only tipped once over 10 years. My rating is 4.93, so I don't think the drivers see me as an asshole.
      - bossyTeacher 3y ago
        It is possible there exists a table called dbo.user_ratings with a boolean column called IsAsshole, and you might have tons of rows there all with a 1 on the boolean column but the Uber APIs don't return that value. CEO Travis could tell us if it exists
      - noitpmeder 3y ago
        It's doubtful drivers are able to see whether or not a rider tipped before they are prompted to rate them.
    - huytersd 3y ago
      No one using an Uber tips.
  - pkaye 3y ago
    Uber didn't originally have tips but the US Uber drivers wanted tips and pushed to implement it.
    - 3y ago
aetherson 3y ago
I've tried them about three months ago. They're a good experience, but maybe slightly worse pickup/dropoff than an Uber, and no less expensive, so they're kinda more "fun to have done once," than anything else.
whimsicalism 3y ago
Ranges from slightly cheaper to a lot more than uber (usually about equal or slightly cheaper if you count tip) Pickup time is significantly more, especially if you are trying to get picked up in the west of the city
SeanAnderson 3y ago
It's cheaper than Uber if you're the type of person to tip your Uber driver 20%. Very infrequently it's cheaper without tip, but usually it's a bit more expensive. Crucially, it doesn't care if you ask it to drive into heavy traffic. I'm so over Uber giving me an estimated time for pickup, having the driver get within range to learn additional details about the trip, then cancelling on me because it doesn't fit their desires. I was late to a reservation a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to go downtown during Superbowl Weekend and an estimated 3 minute pickup morphed into a ~20 minute delay as I waited for an Uber driver to commit to the drive.
- ryandrake 3y ago
  > I'm so over Uber giving me an estimated time for pickup, having the driver get within range to learn additional details about the trip, then cancelling on me because it doesn't fit their desires. I remember waiting for a Lyft that was perpetually 8 minutes away, because driver after driver canceled the ride when they saw the destination and presumably didn't want to drive that far. After about 9 or so cancelations and about 45 minutes, I finally got a pickup. Not having to deal with that shit is worth a few extra bucks to me.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  Post Prop 22 [1], ride shares in California have gotten expensive. I think that created the opening for Waymo. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_Proposition_22 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_Proposition_...
- raylad 3y ago
  I routinely see it priced at double Lyft or Uber in SF.
  - SeanAnderson 3y ago
    It's certainly going up in price as people get off the waitlist and the number of vehicles allowed in service stays fixed. I'm optimistic, though. I would travel a lot more if the price was cheaper, I assume Waymo has enough data to realize that, and they will act in a way that creates a larger market, rather than squeezing the existing market, once they have the legal ability to do so.
Rebelgecko 3y ago
For the free rides they've been doing in LA, they still tell you what it would normally cost. It's usually been within a couple bucks of Uber/Lyft, but Waymo doesn't ask you to tip. It works pretty well. Sometimes it makes nonoptimal choices for where to drop off, but I can't say that it's worse than humans at making those decisions. The screens in the car showing it's view of the environment are super impressive. It often sees pedestrians before I do, and it has some really cool features like warning you about relevant traffic when you get out of the car (not generic warnings but detailed info like "there's a scooter passing on the left" when you unlock the doors). Some minor annoyances: storage space isn't great. I don't think the frunk is user accessible. Driver's seat isn't usable.

I take them in SF regularly, for trips that aren't well-served by Muni. It works well. I've never had even the slightest criticism of how it drives. Compared to Uber, it costs more but never drives on the sidewalk and doesn't operate a Prius with 900,000 miles on the odometer and no windshield wipers.

milesskorpen 3y ago

My impression, using it ~1x/week in SF: Slightly more expensive than uber (+10%?). Takes a bit longer to show up (+25%?). Utterly magical experience.

whimsicalism 3y ago
where I live, show up time is usually around 7-20 minutes compared to around 2-4 for Uber. in the west of the city, it is more commonly ~15-20

Kronopath 3y ago

In SF, up-front prices have been comparable to Uber’s, except that you don’t have to pay tip, which automatically makes it 15–20% cheaper. The few times I’ve tried it, the service has been good and its driving was safe. The only downside is that there seems to sometimes be longer wait times.

bossyTeacher 3y ago
In europe, you don't pay tips to uber drivers. Surely, if the tip is compulsory, it should be called a service fee
- whimsicalism 3y ago
  it's not compulsory and culture is different in US
- Kronopath 3y ago
  Legally, it’s not compulsory. Socially and culturally, it definitely is. In the US, if you don’t tip 15%, you’re either an asshole, or you’re saying there’s severe issues with the service. I’m not going justify this culture—I don’t like it either—but that is the way it is.
  - relativ575 3y ago
    I'm in the US and a frequent Uber users, and I've only tipped once over 10 years. My rating is 4.93, so I don't think the drivers see me as an asshole.
    - bossyTeacher 3y ago
      It is possible there exists a table called dbo.user_ratings with a boolean column called IsAsshole, and you might have tons of rows there all with a 1 on the boolean column but the Uber APIs don't return that value. CEO Travis could tell us if it exists
    - noitpmeder 3y ago
      It's doubtful drivers are able to see whether or not a rider tipped before they are prompted to rate them.
  - huytersd 3y ago
    No one using an Uber tips.
- pkaye 3y ago
  Uber didn't originally have tips but the US Uber drivers wanted tips and pushed to implement it.
  - 3y ago

aetherson 3y ago

I've tried them about three months ago. They're a good experience, but maybe slightly worse pickup/dropoff than an Uber, and no less expensive, so they're kinda more "fun to have done once," than anything else.

whimsicalism 3y ago

Ranges from slightly cheaper to a lot more than uber (usually about equal or slightly cheaper if you count tip) Pickup time is significantly more, especially if you are trying to get picked up in the west of the city

SeanAnderson 3y ago

It's cheaper than Uber if you're the type of person to tip your Uber driver 20%. Very infrequently it's cheaper without tip, but usually it's a bit more expensive. Crucially, it doesn't care if you ask it to drive into heavy traffic. I'm so over Uber giving me an estimated time for pickup, having the driver get within range to learn additional details about the trip, then cancelling on me because it doesn't fit their desires. I was late to a reservation a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to go downtown during Superbowl Weekend and an estimated 3 minute pickup morphed into a ~20 minute delay as I waited for an Uber driver to commit to the drive.

ryandrake 3y ago
> I'm so over Uber giving me an estimated time for pickup, having the driver get within range to learn additional details about the trip, then cancelling on me because it doesn't fit their desires. I remember waiting for a Lyft that was perpetually 8 minutes away, because driver after driver canceled the ride when they saw the destination and presumably didn't want to drive that far. After about 9 or so cancelations and about 45 minutes, I finally got a pickup. Not having to deal with that shit is worth a few extra bucks to me.
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
Post Prop 22 [1], ride shares in California have gotten expensive. I think that created the opening for Waymo. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_Proposition_22 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_Proposition_...
raylad 3y ago
I routinely see it priced at double Lyft or Uber in SF.
- SeanAnderson 3y ago
  It's certainly going up in price as people get off the waitlist and the number of vehicles allowed in service stays fixed. I'm optimistic, though. I would travel a lot more if the price was cheaper, I assume Waymo has enough data to realize that, and they will act in a way that creates a larger market, rather than squeezing the existing market, once they have the legal ability to do so.

Rebelgecko 3y ago

For the free rides they've been doing in LA, they still tell you what it would normally cost. It's usually been within a couple bucks of Uber/Lyft, but Waymo doesn't ask you to tip. It works pretty well. Sometimes it makes nonoptimal choices for where to drop off, but I can't say that it's worse than humans at making those decisions. The screens in the car showing it's view of the environment are super impressive. It often sees pedestrians before I do, and it has some really cool features like warning you about relevant traffic when you get out of the car (not generic warnings but detailed info like "there's a scooter passing on the left" when you unlock the doors). Some minor annoyances: storage space isn't great. I don't think the frunk is user accessible. Driver's seat isn't usable.