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I had a similar experience. A few months ago, I was in the city for a weekend and took Waymo for most of my rides. The one time I chose to use Lyft/Uber, the dr

I had a similar experience. A few months ago, I was in the city for a weekend and took Waymo for most of my rides. The one time I chose to use Lyft/Uber, the driver floored it before we even had a chance to shut the door or get buckled! The rest of the time we took Waymo. I rarely use ride-sharing but other experiences include having been in a FSD Tesla Uber where the driver wasn't paying attention to the road the entire time (hands off the wheel, looking behind him, etc.). I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans.

Swizec 11mo ago
> I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans I’ve ridden in a lot of Waymos – 800km I’m told! – and they’re great. The bit that impresses me most is that they drive like a confident city driver. Already in the intersection and it turns red? Floor it out of the way! Light just turned yellow and you don’t have time to stop? Continue calmly. Stuff like that. Saw a lot of other AI cars get flustered and confused in those situations. Humans too. For me I like Waymos because of the consistent social experience. There is none. With drivers they’re usually chatty at all the wrong moments when I’m not in the mood or just want to catch up on emails. Or I’m feeling chatty and the driver is not, it’s rarely a perfect match. With Waymo it’s just a ride.
- astrange 11mo ago
  I did have one drive straight through a big pothole in LA once, and I also felt like it chose extremely boring routes. But neither of those are very surprising. Oh, and it doesn't like to pull into hotel entrances but instead stops randomly on the street outside it.
  - andsoitis 11mo ago
    > and I also felt like it chose extremely boring routes $$ opportunity: pay $10 extra and Waymo will choose more exciting route.
    - kbaker 11mo ago
      I mean, if the scenic route is longer anyways, the revenue potential is there to fund it... just a 'take me the scenic route' checkbox?
    - tgsovlerkhgsel 11mo ago
      Or "pay $10 extra and it'll drive extremely aggressively" (in the acceleration/braking/taking turns at speed sense, i.e. only ways that don't affect safety, not "cutting people off"). The sane default is obviously "boring", as it projects an image of safety and control, is comfortable, and reduces wear on the car... but if the user pays for the wear and wants an uncomfortable ride, why not?
      - socalgal2 11mo ago
        roads are shared resources. As long as it's not breaking any laws then sure but please don't ask it to raise the risks to other people on the road. Just tune out on your phone/tablet/laptop and ignore the boring safer ride.
      - sdenton4 11mo ago
        Maintaining safety across multiple driving "modes" multiplies the complexity of the problem, in a space where safety incidents can shift public opinion of the whole industry. This is a bad idea...
ericmcer 11mo ago
It must be interesting being an Uber driver right now and literally watching the robots that will replace you driving around with you. This has been a 15+ year process and will probably take a few more years. I don't feel too bad if they didn't manage to pivot in that time period.
- pa7ch 11mo ago
  You say the term pivot like its a startup founder who has every option in life. You should feel bad for anyone who would struggle for a basic job.
  - dekhn 11mo ago
    the history of humans on earth has been pivots, even amongst people who had few options. I don't subscribe to feeling guilty every time somebody loses a job. I feel empathy, but telling people to "feel bad" is not constructive.
    - phainopepla2 11mo ago
      "Feel bad for" is not the same as "feel bad". The former is the same as feeling empathy, in colloquial English
    - kannanvijayan 11mo ago
      In a society where having a job is, for that vast majority not in the non-gilded classes, the only mechanism by which a person can secure their core needs.. losing a job is indeed a pitiable situation for most. If we've built a society that when it "pivots" leaves swathes of people smeared out as residual waste, I'd argue we should feel bad. We've certainly reached a point of technological advancement where many of these consequences at the individual level are avoidable. If they're still happening, it's because we've chosen this outcome - perhaps passively. But the clear implication of would be that we're collectively failing ourselves, as a species that tends to put some degree of pride in our intelligence. And we should feel bad about that failure. It's OK to feel bad about that failure. We tend not to improve things we don't feel bad about.
Lammy 11mo ago
> I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans. The one thing you can trust Waymo to do is spy on you. Hurray, more surveillance-on-wheels! Every one of these things has 29 visible-light cameras, 5 LIDARs, 4 RADARs, and is using four H100s to process all of its realtime imagery of you: https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2024/10/27/waymos-5-6-billion-round-and-details-of-the-ai-used/ https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2024/10/27/waymos-5-6...
- blibble 11mo ago
  if there's 4 H100s in there, that's effectively a gold bar in terms of value just sitting there in a vehicle that is unmanned and unguarded, which anyone can summon to a dodgy warehouse what do you think will happen once this becomes public knowledge?
  - Lammy 11mo ago
    Four H100s in an Alphabet datacenter somewhere, obviously.
vdupras 11mo ago
> A few months ago, I was in the city for a weekend and took Waymo for most of my rides. > [...] > I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life [...] I'm sorry to be that guy, but didn't you already?

Swizec 11mo ago

> I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans I’ve ridden in a lot of Waymos – 800km I’m told! – and they’re great. The bit that impresses me most is that they drive like a confident city driver. Already in the intersection and it turns red? Floor it out of the way! Light just turned yellow and you don’t have time to stop? Continue calmly. Stuff like that. Saw a lot of other AI cars get flustered and confused in those situations. Humans too. For me I like Waymos because of the consistent social experience. There is none. With drivers they’re usually chatty at all the wrong moments when I’m not in the mood or just want to catch up on emails. Or I’m feeling chatty and the driver is not, it’s rarely a perfect match. With Waymo it’s just a ride.

astrange 11mo ago
I did have one drive straight through a big pothole in LA once, and I also felt like it chose extremely boring routes. But neither of those are very surprising. Oh, and it doesn't like to pull into hotel entrances but instead stops randomly on the street outside it.
- andsoitis 11mo ago
  > and I also felt like it chose extremely boring routes $$ opportunity: pay $10 extra and Waymo will choose more exciting route.
  - kbaker 11mo ago
    I mean, if the scenic route is longer anyways, the revenue potential is there to fund it... just a 'take me the scenic route' checkbox?
  - tgsovlerkhgsel 11mo ago
    Or "pay $10 extra and it'll drive extremely aggressively" (in the acceleration/braking/taking turns at speed sense, i.e. only ways that don't affect safety, not "cutting people off"). The sane default is obviously "boring", as it projects an image of safety and control, is comfortable, and reduces wear on the car... but if the user pays for the wear and wants an uncomfortable ride, why not?
    - socalgal2 11mo ago
      roads are shared resources. As long as it's not breaking any laws then sure but please don't ask it to raise the risks to other people on the road. Just tune out on your phone/tablet/laptop and ignore the boring safer ride.
    - sdenton4 11mo ago
      Maintaining safety across multiple driving "modes" multiplies the complexity of the problem, in a space where safety incidents can shift public opinion of the whole industry. This is a bad idea...

ericmcer 11mo ago

It must be interesting being an Uber driver right now and literally watching the robots that will replace you driving around with you. This has been a 15+ year process and will probably take a few more years. I don't feel too bad if they didn't manage to pivot in that time period.

pa7ch 11mo ago
You say the term pivot like its a startup founder who has every option in life. You should feel bad for anyone who would struggle for a basic job.
- dekhn 11mo ago
  the history of humans on earth has been pivots, even amongst people who had few options. I don't subscribe to feeling guilty every time somebody loses a job. I feel empathy, but telling people to "feel bad" is not constructive.
  - phainopepla2 11mo ago
    "Feel bad for" is not the same as "feel bad". The former is the same as feeling empathy, in colloquial English
  - kannanvijayan 11mo ago
    In a society where having a job is, for that vast majority not in the non-gilded classes, the only mechanism by which a person can secure their core needs.. losing a job is indeed a pitiable situation for most. If we've built a society that when it "pivots" leaves swathes of people smeared out as residual waste, I'd argue we should feel bad. We've certainly reached a point of technological advancement where many of these consequences at the individual level are avoidable. If they're still happening, it's because we've chosen this outcome - perhaps passively. But the clear implication of would be that we're collectively failing ourselves, as a species that tends to put some degree of pride in our intelligence. And we should feel bad about that failure. It's OK to feel bad about that failure. We tend not to improve things we don't feel bad about.

Lammy 11mo ago

> I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life, but at least there are SOME standards, compared to the natural variance of humans. The one thing you can trust Waymo to do is spy on you. Hurray, more surveillance-on-wheels! Every one of these things has 29 visible-light cameras, 5 LIDARs, 4 RADARs, and is using four H100s to process all of its realtime imagery of you: https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2024/10/27/waymos-5-6-billion-round-and-details-of-the-ai-used/ https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2024/10/27/waymos-5-6...

blibble 11mo ago
if there's 4 H100s in there, that's effectively a gold bar in terms of value just sitting there in a vehicle that is unmanned and unguarded, which anyone can summon to a dodgy warehouse what do you think will happen once this becomes public knowledge?
- Lammy 11mo ago
  Four H100s in an Alphabet datacenter somewhere, obviously.

vdupras 11mo ago

> A few months ago, I was in the city for a weekend and took Waymo for most of my rides. > [...] > I don't know if I trust Waymo cars with my life [...] I'm sorry to be that guy, but didn't you already?