Though to be fair, in my area Waymo charges 2x the price of Uber and Lyft for the same service.
Still pretty cool.
Still pretty cool.
I think in a few more years with the amount of training their AI will have Waymo will be a truly incredible taxi service. It can only get better!
One concern I had is that once self-driving cars are widespread people might take advantage and treat them poorly with no human driver watching. Where a human would likely notice and deal with weird smells or things added by the past customer. Waymo-type service probably rely on reporting by passengers once the car already arrives, no? (I've never driven in one)
People might be treating them nice today because Waymo is a fancy new service in Jaguars that people treat as a novelty. Once those e-taxi services are under aggressive economic demands I'm curious to see how it plays out.
If you purchase a GoPass, you'll receive a 10% discount on all rides, and 5 free cancellations.
Or will you ever be able to reach support once car takes you to wrong location?
https://sfstandard.com/2023/08/11/san-francisco-robotaxi-cru...
Waymo is closer to a proper liveried taxi service than a rideshare. The only time I use rideshares is for NEMT. I use a human-driven taxi, albeit much less than Waymo, and I book through the taxi company's app.
The taxi company uses traditional medallions allocated by the authorities here. Their dispatch is traditionally over-the-phone, in fact they require me to answer the phone if I expect to get a ride. Their drivers--I don't know their employment status--seem to own their vehicles, which are fleet models, liveried, and usually identical. So I can always count on uniformity when I get in a car like that.
The human taxi service usually charges/estimates prices at least 20% higher than an identical itinerary with Waymo.
Waymo service is not Uber or Lyft. First of all, it's a liveried fleet vehicle. When I summon a Waymo, I know that they'll send a Jaguar I-PACE, and I'll know how to board it and fasten my seatbelt. That is absolutely golden knowledge to have. (Rideshares routinely give me panic attacks as I try and figure out how to seat belt when they've already started moving.)
The Waymo has an absolutely uniform experience, because it's always "the same Driver". Human drivers I've met have been drunk, belligerent, rude, scammers, incompetent, unsafe, late, lost, wrong car, overly friendly/nosy, you name it. Waymo is none of these.
Waymo's power trunk door means I can always stow my cargo, because the driver isn't living out of his car. Unfortunately, there is no human to assist me in lifting it, but there's room and there's a button to close it again.
Of course the in-car experience is luxurious and relaxing. I don't have to be concerned with a jerk driver or entertaining the guy or pretending to ignore him. I can basically curl up and zone out. I feel safety and security in Waymo alone.
The in-car display has plenty of telemetry to watch the 3D visualization, play music, adjust temperature, do what I want. There are always charging ports for my phone, cup holders, and sun visors.
Waymo is a Godsend for me. And it's a Godsend for anyone in a vulnerable population who may be at-risk while alone with another human like that. It's about time.