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In my circle, everyone who's tried Waymo never wants to use Uber/Lyft with a human driver again. And, many of them wish they could own one or at least use one f

In my circle, everyone who's tried Waymo never wants to use Uber/Lyft with a human driver again. And, many of them wish they could own one or at least use one for much longer drives (100s of miles). I would visit my mom (2hrs by car) more often if that 2hrs (each way) wasn't so stressful and exhausting and I could just be chauffeured by a self driving car while I browse the net, play a game, watch a movie, or talk to friends.

SEJeff 1mo ago
Buddy buy a Tesla, as that’s definitely gonna happen in the medium term.
- ted_dunning 1mo ago
  Not only that, it's going to happen every year. Most achievements only happen once.
- rkuykendall-com 1mo ago
  Self driving is coming to Teslas next year! [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_autonomous_Tesla_vehicles_by_Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_autono...
  - SEJeff 29d ago
    As someone who’s owned a Tesla since 2018, and was part of the early beta program, I at least have a better understanding of the tech than most random folks who don’t actually drive one daily. Also, I’m not a fan of Elon at all. It is easily one of the best if not the top three in the world (I’m including the Chinese companies like BYD, but we can’t get those in the US). I can say “navigate to the closest publix”, it will back out of my garage, and then drive there the whole way hands off, find a parking spot, and park. Tesla’s robotaxi sq mileage is roughly 1100 miles vs Waymo’s 475. This is true autonomous no safety driver in the car. So jokes aside, Tesla is leagues ahead of everyone else sans maybe some of the state funded Chinese car brands. Having actually used the tech daily for years, it’s incredible, truly.
- Schiendelman 1mo ago
  I guess I'm missing something? I took a Tesla cab with no human in it last week.
  - SEJeff 29d ago
    Yeah, it is very good, but that’s only in roughly 1100 sq miles in the US. The long tail of edge cases is exponentially harder than the rest of it. They’re improving quite quickly was my point, and if anyone stands to pull it off, I’d bet on them pulling it off first.
robner 1mo ago
In the Netherlands were I live we use trains for this
- SEJeff 1mo ago
  The US is ~263x larger than the Netherlands landmass wise. It would require a loooot more trains than we have or you have.
  - uv-depression 1mo ago
    You put the trains where the people are, not in the middle of vast unpopulated stretches. Comparing land area is misleading and unhelpful.
    - win311fwg 1mo ago
      Trouble is, when you need to get to the middle of nowhere is when you need transportation. If you stay within the densely populated areas where the people live you can walk. That's why people stopped living in rural areas after all; so that one didn't have to rely on transportation. Don't forget that rural areas had trains back before the urbanization movement! Passenger rail in the US died out because people moved closer together so that they didn't need mechanized travel. The Netherlands, while technically highly urbanized, has remained more like a bunch of small towns instead of a few highly populated cities like as is seen in the US, so it is much closer to the rural days of yore when the US was able to support a comprehensive, nation-wide passenger rail system.
      - laurencerowe 1mo ago
        > The Netherlands, while technically highly urbanized, has remained more like a bunch of small towns instead of a few highly populated cities like as is seen in the US, so it is much closer to the rural days of yore when the US was able to support a comprehensive, nation-wide passenger rail system. Looking at population density if you draw a 50km radius in the Netherlands you get about 8m people. This covers lots of small cities etc. In the US you get maybe 5m in a contiguous city like Phoenix (which fills the circle) or the Bay Area. (LA is more dense and you might get 10m.) Transit works much better in the Netherlands and much of Europe because those homes and job centres are not as evenly spaced as they are in most American cities since they developed more around public transport existing. S the effective density experienced is much higher.

SEJeff 1mo ago

Buddy buy a Tesla, as that’s definitely gonna happen in the medium term.

ted_dunning 1mo ago
Not only that, it's going to happen every year. Most achievements only happen once.
rkuykendall-com 1mo ago
Self driving is coming to Teslas next year! [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_autonomous_Tesla_vehicles_by_Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_autono...
- SEJeff 29d ago
  As someone who’s owned a Tesla since 2018, and was part of the early beta program, I at least have a better understanding of the tech than most random folks who don’t actually drive one daily. Also, I’m not a fan of Elon at all. It is easily one of the best if not the top three in the world (I’m including the Chinese companies like BYD, but we can’t get those in the US). I can say “navigate to the closest publix”, it will back out of my garage, and then drive there the whole way hands off, find a parking spot, and park. Tesla’s robotaxi sq mileage is roughly 1100 miles vs Waymo’s 475. This is true autonomous no safety driver in the car. So jokes aside, Tesla is leagues ahead of everyone else sans maybe some of the state funded Chinese car brands. Having actually used the tech daily for years, it’s incredible, truly.
Schiendelman 1mo ago
I guess I'm missing something? I took a Tesla cab with no human in it last week.
- SEJeff 29d ago
  Yeah, it is very good, but that’s only in roughly 1100 sq miles in the US. The long tail of edge cases is exponentially harder than the rest of it. They’re improving quite quickly was my point, and if anyone stands to pull it off, I’d bet on them pulling it off first.

robner 1mo ago

In the Netherlands were I live we use trains for this

SEJeff 1mo ago
The US is ~263x larger than the Netherlands landmass wise. It would require a loooot more trains than we have or you have.
- uv-depression 1mo ago
  You put the trains where the people are, not in the middle of vast unpopulated stretches. Comparing land area is misleading and unhelpful.
  - win311fwg 1mo ago
    Trouble is, when you need to get to the middle of nowhere is when you need transportation. If you stay within the densely populated areas where the people live you can walk. That's why people stopped living in rural areas after all; so that one didn't have to rely on transportation. Don't forget that rural areas had trains back before the urbanization movement! Passenger rail in the US died out because people moved closer together so that they didn't need mechanized travel. The Netherlands, while technically highly urbanized, has remained more like a bunch of small towns instead of a few highly populated cities like as is seen in the US, so it is much closer to the rural days of yore when the US was able to support a comprehensive, nation-wide passenger rail system.
    - laurencerowe 1mo ago
      > The Netherlands, while technically highly urbanized, has remained more like a bunch of small towns instead of a few highly populated cities like as is seen in the US, so it is much closer to the rural days of yore when the US was able to support a comprehensive, nation-wide passenger rail system. Looking at population density if you draw a 50km radius in the Netherlands you get about 8m people. This covers lots of small cities etc. In the US you get maybe 5m in a contiguous city like Phoenix (which fills the circle) or the Bay Area. (LA is more dense and you might get 10m.) Transit works much better in the Netherlands and much of Europe because those homes and job centres are not as evenly spaced as they are in most American cities since they developed more around public transport existing. S the effective density experienced is much higher.