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A recent Uber driver of mine encountered bay bridge traffic, said, "I know a shortcut!" and veered out of the line waiting to enter the bridge. Then, Uber Safet

A recent Uber driver of mine encountered bay bridge traffic, said, "I know a shortcut!" and veered out of the line waiting to enter the bridge. Then, Uber Safety called my phone asking if everything was alright. Then, the driver realized he didn't know where I was trying to go, asked me, realized I needed to go to Oakland, and spent 10+ minutes going in a slow circle to get back to the line of traffic. A few drives later, I had a group dinner reservation at a restaurant downtown. I'm not a big sports person and I didn't realize I was asking to go downtown on the Saturday before the Super Bowl. Uber told me I had to wait 4 minutes for pickup, but that turned into a 20+ minute wait as driver after driver canceled on me when they saw where I was asking to go. I had to text all of the guests and apologize for being late to my own reservation. A few drives later, I had a long conversation with a gay driver who recently fled from Iraq because his sexual identity wasn't respected there. I'm a mid-thirties, single male. The first question the driver asked me when I got in the car was if I had a family. I said no. Then he asked if I had a girlfriend. I said no. Then he slowly engaged with me in conversation for 10 minutes trying to figure out if I was a potential date for him and had trouble understanding that while I fully supported his sexual identity that that didn't mean I was an opportunity for connection. Last weekend, as I was espousing the benefits of Waymo to a friend, they called an Uber while we were heading down from a restaurant at the top of an elevator. When we got down to the bottom floor, he was dismayed. Someone else had gotten into the Uber, the driver didn't check names, and they were now travelling on his dime. Surely it's not that hard to envision the scenarios in which an autonomous driver might be desirable?

barbazoo 3y ago
> A few drives later, I had a long conversation with a gay driver who recently fled from Iraq because his sexual identity wasn't respected there... Avoiding talking to humans altogether is one thing but couldn't we also just say "sorry I don't feel like chatting" or something like that?
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > couldn't we also just say "sorry I don't feel like chatting" I’ve been hit on by a few Uber drivers. (Early thirties guy.) They stop talking then forget after two seconds. Unfortunately, the person who crosses the first boundary isn’t deterred by the second. That said, I do appreciate the chutzpah of the driver who tried to invite himself to my date for a threesome.
- SeanAnderson 3y ago
  Yeah, I could definitely set better boundaries. It's not a strong suit of mine.
throwitaway222 3y ago
> Stuff where I want to be surrounded by robots all my life. I mean, if a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound? Even if yes, does it matter? If we're just going to let the robots be the only thing we see all day long, why not just call it - hang up the hats build full AGI and blow up the humans.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > we're just going to let the robots be the only thing we see all day long This is an uncharitable reading of someone wanting peace and quiet from time to time.
  - alistairSH 3y ago
    Going downtown on Super Bowl night isn’t exactly peace and quiet. But yeah, taxis and Ubers can suck sometimes.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- konschubert 3y ago
  Yes it makes a sound and it matters as much as you want it to.
- SeanAnderson 3y ago
  I don't consider driving in traffic to be a pinnacle of human experience worthy of preservation. I certainly have concerns about AI automating away some jobs, but I thought stop-and-go city driving was something everyone could agree on as being worthwhile to eliminate. I'm surprised there's such a staunch defense.
  - johnnyanmac 3y ago
    >but I thought stop-and-go city driving was something everyone could agree on as being worthwhile to eliminate. It's mixed. Driving is both a career and a pastime/hobby. I can certainly see a long term (30+ year) shift to AI driving being a hindrance to the latter, even if the efficiencies would be massive (e.g. there wouldn't be such thing as "stop and go city driving" to the extent of modern day driving. Stop and go is a product of inefficient human sensors and signalling). As a career, yes. It probably won't exist in 20 years at this rate.
bagels 3y ago
How will waymo help with something like the super bowl? It's going to be overcapacity too.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > How will waymo help with something like the super bowl? It will commit to the ride and not cancel.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - alistairSH 3y ago
    Only if it’s coded that way. And a profit-seeking org may not code it that way if the optimal solution (for them) is canceling and finding more lucrative passengers.
    - bastawhiz 3y ago
      A profit seeking org wouldn't take the ride in the first place instead of repeatedly accepting and cancelling. Or it would simply increase the price because it implicitly knows the value.
      - alistairSH 3y ago
        And yet Uber allows drivers to cancel, which has the same impact as an AI cancelling.
    - xw390111 3y ago
      If they want me to take a ride tomorrow, they won't cancel on me today.
- SeanAnderson 3y ago
  Waymo said it would take 30 minutes to arrive, but would've arrived in 30 minutes. I can plan around that.
timeagain 3y ago
This is misanthropic tech vision at its finest. I got a job recommendation from an Uber driver. My aunt (against TOS) built a private driver business based on her personality after driving Lyft from the airport. I had a great conversation with a Somalian driver who’s favorite music artist was Dolly Parton. Once a driver saved me from a hairy situation with an irate customer who was chasing me and throwing things, I tipped him $20 and we laughed about it—I was just happy to have someone to witness the crazy. Not to mention the thousands of people who currently make a respectable living driving people around. But maybe I’m just one of those extroverts who doesn’t mind being around people.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > maybe I’m just one of those extroverts who doesn’t mind being around people Sometimes I want a chauffeur, usually one I have a relationship with, often I want a reliable ride. We’re all better off for having the choice.
  - MenhirMike 3y ago
    It would be nice to have an UberSSR option for sure, for the people that just want a ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FUQYPfL0Pg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FUQYPfL0Pg
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > would be nice to have an UberSSR option for sure They ask for temperature and conversation preferences when you order a black car, which I find somewhat funny.
- SeanAnderson 3y ago
  Great. I am happy you are satisfied with the quality of service you're given by human drivers. I would hope you would be equally happy with the increased enjoyment I experience from an automated driving experience. We will have to agree to disagree on whether it's a beneficial change to society to disrupt human drivers with autonomous drivers. Personally, I found the argument that artists shouldn't be disrupted by AI much more defensible than saying drivers shouldn't be disrupted. It always seemed easy to look at previously disrupted jobs, like people getting up at 4AM to act as manual alarm clocks via peashooters on windows, and say yes, we should replace this simple act of labor with technology.

barbazoo 3y ago

> A few drives later, I had a long conversation with a gay driver who recently fled from Iraq because his sexual identity wasn't respected there... Avoiding talking to humans altogether is one thing but couldn't we also just say "sorry I don't feel like chatting" or something like that?

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> couldn't we also just say "sorry I don't feel like chatting" I’ve been hit on by a few Uber drivers. (Early thirties guy.) They stop talking then forget after two seconds. Unfortunately, the person who crosses the first boundary isn’t deterred by the second. That said, I do appreciate the chutzpah of the driver who tried to invite himself to my date for a threesome.
SeanAnderson 3y ago
Yeah, I could definitely set better boundaries. It's not a strong suit of mine.

throwitaway222 3y ago

> Stuff where I want to be surrounded by robots all my life. I mean, if a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound? Even if yes, does it matter? If we're just going to let the robots be the only thing we see all day long, why not just call it - hang up the hats build full AGI and blow up the humans.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> we're just going to let the robots be the only thing we see all day long This is an uncharitable reading of someone wanting peace and quiet from time to time.
- alistairSH 3y ago
  Going downtown on Super Bowl night isn’t exactly peace and quiet. But yeah, taxis and Ubers can suck sometimes.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
konschubert 3y ago
Yes it makes a sound and it matters as much as you want it to.
SeanAnderson 3y ago
I don't consider driving in traffic to be a pinnacle of human experience worthy of preservation. I certainly have concerns about AI automating away some jobs, but I thought stop-and-go city driving was something everyone could agree on as being worthwhile to eliminate. I'm surprised there's such a staunch defense.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  >but I thought stop-and-go city driving was something everyone could agree on as being worthwhile to eliminate. It's mixed. Driving is both a career and a pastime/hobby. I can certainly see a long term (30+ year) shift to AI driving being a hindrance to the latter, even if the efficiencies would be massive (e.g. there wouldn't be such thing as "stop and go city driving" to the extent of modern day driving. Stop and go is a product of inefficient human sensors and signalling). As a career, yes. It probably won't exist in 20 years at this rate.

bagels 3y ago

How will waymo help with something like the super bowl? It's going to be overcapacity too.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> How will waymo help with something like the super bowl? It will commit to the ride and not cancel.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- alistairSH 3y ago
  Only if it’s coded that way. And a profit-seeking org may not code it that way if the optimal solution (for them) is canceling and finding more lucrative passengers.
  - bastawhiz 3y ago
    A profit seeking org wouldn't take the ride in the first place instead of repeatedly accepting and cancelling. Or it would simply increase the price because it implicitly knows the value.
    - alistairSH 3y ago
      And yet Uber allows drivers to cancel, which has the same impact as an AI cancelling.
  - xw390111 3y ago
    If they want me to take a ride tomorrow, they won't cancel on me today.
SeanAnderson 3y ago
Waymo said it would take 30 minutes to arrive, but would've arrived in 30 minutes. I can plan around that.

timeagain 3y ago

This is misanthropic tech vision at its finest. I got a job recommendation from an Uber driver. My aunt (against TOS) built a private driver business based on her personality after driving Lyft from the airport. I had a great conversation with a Somalian driver who’s favorite music artist was Dolly Parton. Once a driver saved me from a hairy situation with an irate customer who was chasing me and throwing things, I tipped him $20 and we laughed about it—I was just happy to have someone to witness the crazy. Not to mention the thousands of people who currently make a respectable living driving people around. But maybe I’m just one of those extroverts who doesn’t mind being around people.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> maybe I’m just one of those extroverts who doesn’t mind being around people Sometimes I want a chauffeur, usually one I have a relationship with, often I want a reliable ride. We’re all better off for having the choice.
- MenhirMike 3y ago
  It would be nice to have an UberSSR option for sure, for the people that just want a ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FUQYPfL0Pg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FUQYPfL0Pg
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > would be nice to have an UberSSR option for sure They ask for temperature and conversation preferences when you order a black car, which I find somewhat funny.
SeanAnderson 3y ago
Great. I am happy you are satisfied with the quality of service you're given by human drivers. I would hope you would be equally happy with the increased enjoyment I experience from an automated driving experience. We will have to agree to disagree on whether it's a beneficial change to society to disrupt human drivers with autonomous drivers. Personally, I found the argument that artists shouldn't be disrupted by AI much more defensible than saying drivers shouldn't be disrupted. It always seemed easy to look at previously disrupted jobs, like people getting up at 4AM to act as manual alarm clocks via peashooters on windows, and say yes, we should replace this simple act of labor with technology.