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Comment by orbisvicis | Hacker News Reader

Another comment, another thread mentioned that Waymo requires more walking than an equivalent Uber ride - to the pickup location, from the drop-off location. Anyone know why this might be true?

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I'll hazard a guess: because Uber drivers are sometimes willing to stop for a minute in an illegal spot to park to do a quick pick up or drop off, and Waymos are never willing to do that (presumably).

Last night a waymo dropped me off near the giants game. Presumably somewhere you aren’t meant to stop as I heard a security guard on loudspeaker asking “the car with the display on top” to move along as I was walking away, but the car wouldn’t move as there was still relatively fast traffic moving past it.

I’ve had to walk a few times near steep hills, I was wondering if partly it was due to the angle of approach and the sensor view being blocked so they avoid the area?

During one of my last Waymo rides the car stopped on Powell between Bush and Sutter (facing South stopping on the regular lane a bit before the Powell/Sutter crossing). This caused other drivers to drive on the cable car tracks to go around the Waymo (which are separated from the driving lane with a double yellow line) and it caused a truck to do a right turn directly from the cable car tracks (as there wasn't enough space to merge back into the lane).

Not sure if was legal or not for the Waymo to stop there, but given that Waymo stops take quite a bit longer than stops with Uber/Lyft (as it takes a while for the car to continue driving) this was one of the worst places possible to stop. Especially as there would have been space available right after the crossing next to Walgreens.

Honestly, it’s almost always legal to stop in a lane. Regardless of the fact that other drivers had bad behavior, that was the right thing to do. Some of the future of all this is that we will need to install curbs in places we don’t have them now to prevent bad human behavior.

This is absolutely false in California, please don't spread dangerous misinformation.

See CVC 22400(a):

No person shall drive upon a highway at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic unless the reduced speed is necessary for safe operation, becauseof a grade, or in compliance with law.

No person shall bring a vehicle to a complete stop upon a highway so as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic unless the stop is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.

The above was referencing stopping on a city street ("Powell between Bush and Sutter"). You're talking about stopping on a highway. These things are not particularly comparable.

In the California Vehicle Code section 360, a "highway" is defined for the purposes of the vehicle code as "a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street." [0]

[0] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio....

I’ve seen a Waymo stop and pick up a rider at Octavia and Linden. If you look at a map, you can see that it’s totally blocking all traffic.

Double parking is legal (in some cases) in California, but this wouldn’t be allowed under any reasonable interpretation.

I’ve also seen Waymos double parked on both sides of the street, which blocks other cars from going around them.

Fwiw there is a checkbox if you want to absolutely minimize walking. It'll often do things like drive around the block so you don't have to cross the street yourself.

One thing I actually think is really cool about the Waymo ux (full disclosure, I work for Google but not Waymo) is how it elevates the pickup/dropoff locations to feel like more of a first class feature (compared to just typing in an address and your Uber driver dropping you off in the general area).

I don't think I've ever had to walk more than 30 feet to a pickup location, but I have had it drop me off at the nearest cross street (usually on streets where it would've had to double park in front of my exact drop-off location)

Human taxi drivers are okay parking illegally to do pick-ups/drop-offs, and we as a society usually tolerate that, as long as they're quick about it.

But Waymo probably isn't comfortable telling its cars to park in many illegal parts of streets, even if it's going to be quick. Partially because determining which illegal parking jobs are socially acceptable vs unacceptable is a hard determination for a robot to make.

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