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Add freeways and airport rides, both of which they are very close to doing, Waymo will become much more of a complete service and a true Uber/Lyft replacement.
by ra7 2y ago
Add freeways and airport rides, both of which they are very close to doing, Waymo will become much more of a complete service and a true Uber/Lyft replacement.
In a year's time, we could genuinely see them operating at scale in 6-8 major cities (SF, Phoenix, LA, Austin and new cities), especially with their new dedicated robotaxi from Zeekr. A possible hold up would be China import tariffs imposed by the US government.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> 6-8 major cities (SF, Phoenix, LA, Austin and new cities) If I had to guess, I'd say Atlanta, San Diego, Houston and Miami.
- ra7 2y agoThey’re testing in DC and giving media rides there. So DC is a candidate too.
- ajcp 2y ago1: Airport rides are already available in Phoenix between 10PM and 6AM. 2: I have never seen a Waymo on the freeway without someone driving it (not monitored self-driving, but physically driving it). Take this with a grain of sand but it is my understanding that full self-driving on highways is still far away given the limited range of the (relatively) small sensors and the speed of travel required. That is: the sensors cannot see far enough ahead to react comfortably when going above N miles-per-hour. That might be a dated understanding of the issue though... Source: I've been riding Weymo since 2019 when it first went public beta (NDA-restricted use). Rode one last night coming home from the airport!
- Lisdexamfeta 2y agoAirport rides in Phoenix are always available, but apart from the hours you note, Waymo drops riders off at the 24th or 44th Street Sky Train locations.
- ajcp 2y agoApologies, you are correct. I took OPs meaning to be that capability that Uber/Lyft operators can already provide at Sky Harbor.
- ra7 2y agoI meant airport rides to the terminal at all hours of the day. Waymo is already giving driverless freeway rides to employees in Phoenix, so I don’t agree that it’s far away. It’s definitely a different challenge though.
- TulliusCicero 2y agoFreeway driving is more straightforward in many ways compared to urban driving, but the problem is that the impact of screwing up is a LOT more severe. If you screw up at typical speeds in SF, probably nobody will die. On a freeway, odds are a lot higher. If a car is confused in an urban area, stopping in the middle of the street isn't 100% safe, but it's not super dangerous, whereas stopping in the middle of freeway suddenly is obviously extremely dangerous.
- kajecounterhack 2y ago> That is: the sensors cannot see far enough ahead to react comfortably when going above N miles-per-hour. That might be a dated understanding of the issue though... It's more of a challenge when your stopping distance is low (more problematic for trucking than it is for TaaS vehicles since trucks are so damn heavy). I suspect some challenges are risks like tailgater collisions and high-stakes lane changes at speed, and even more problematic is just profitability (what if your cars are tied up in traffic jams, what if they don't have enough charge left to make a long round trip, etc).
- alexambarch 2y agoIf these vehicles tackle the roads of Boston, there will be no stopping this company. That place has one of the most confusing road networks I’ve ever seen in addition to some of the most confused drivers. NYC is another obvious challenge but Boston seems like a challenging middle ground.
- cushychicken 2y agoBoston resident here seconding this. I am not artificially intelligent and Boston’s streets are a fuckshow.
- cco 2y agoThe issue is not a confusing road network, it's that Waymos require a modicum of grace in other drivers to operate. They aren't super aggressive, they'll defer to pedestrians and other drivers, they drive safely. That I think is where they'll find problems when expanding to locales with less than conscientious drivers.