I'd like to but how do you overcome the slight powerless feeling? Like when those guys surrounded a vehicle and made it to stop with people helplessly inside. You're kind of stuck.
I agree that it's a slightly more vulnerable feeling than driving myself, but I still feel far less vulnerable than taking public transit or walking. And when you factor in risk of a crash, it's also safer than Uber or driving myself.
I don't think Waymos will often be targeted by criminals for anything besides vandalism, with 20+ cameras and potential remote monitors the risk:reward ratio is much worse than other options.
This sounds incredibly dystopian. What hellhole do you live? What are the dangers you have from taking public transit?
I still ride the bus/trolley/tram/subway, especially when the streets are busy, but late at night I'll opt for a Waymo, depending on the circumstance.
https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/w...
> What hellhole do you live?
Do a search for women and public transit. This isn't just Japan, or Europe, or the USA. It's a real problem being discussed. Honestly, I feel like this is fairly common knowledge at this point.
The US I guess.
I do think you need to be aware of the environment generally and, while there is always some risk (anywhere), you can alleviate a lot of it.
I'm very familiar with a large northeast metropolitan complex and there are places/times I wouldn't go but lots of places/times I would.
ADDED: Probably unfair. Some are willing to tradeoff safety for culture etc. so long as they can essentially buy their way out of some of the potentially uncomfortable urban aspects (which is presumably what's being discussed here). This is a perfectly understandable attitude--as it probably was in NYC in the 80s or so.
Then of course there's differences in opinion on actual risk. I don't generally feel comfortable around variables i don't understand. I grew up around addicts and found them to be very unpredictable, and so my reaction may be biased. Nonetheless it's true for me personally.
edit: Conversely though, i think humans have a tendency to get used to nearly anything. We then can downplay the risks of things we've become accustomed to. Even if the risk of violence is low, risk of general unpleasant interactions would be enough to make me avoid the bus/etc.
I was in Detroit for an event a couple years ago. A number of us didn't really feel safe after dark and there were a couple incidents that other attendees experienced. Part of it was the general reputation but we also just didn't really know.
Whereas I'll walk down 5th avenue in Manhattan at two in the morning with no real concerns though I'm being more alert than if it were noon.
As you say, it also wouldn't take many bus/subway incidents to make me go: "That's a nope from now on."
Also, because you may have family and ties to the area.
Relatively recently (maybe 5 years ago), a work colleague got an AirBnB "bargain" on a house in the Roxbury area of Boston for a group of people for a conference and told me there was a shooting down the street. I was, like, IDIOT, you might have asked a local why it might have been such a bargain. (To be clear I'm not sure how objectively dangerous it was but I wouldn't have been staying there and walking at night.)
Not sure most of Manhattan was unsafe generally but you were certainly careful. Not sure that accidentally taking the express subway up to 125th street was actually a guarantee to walking out to a hail of bullets but you were definitely careful to a degree you probably aren't today. I never a foot in Brooklyn until much later. And I remember a somewhat scary drive from LaGuardia to the Port Authority late at night along 42nd Street because of some confusion around schedules.
I don't think this is unique to SF. Even in very safe cities there's surely a higher chance of being mugged walking down a dark street than riding in a 5000 lbs vehicle with tinted windows.
Please account for the danger of being struck by other people riding in 5000 lb vehicles with tinted windows!
I think they seem good now because you're not riding with randos. Although, randos can still trivially stop the car. But this model is unsustainable, eventually you will be riding with randos.
If you ride the subway at night, with almost nobody on it, you get the same effect.
>It's hard to coordinate, say, 20 people to rob you (one guy).
It's unsafe when there's lots of people, it's unsafe when there's no people. Basically they're saying it's unsafe no matter what, which just isn't true. Subway systems are an everyday part of life in many cities.
They are also claiming that Waymo will have compulsory ride sharing for some reason, and therefore wont be safe (I dont agree with this part)
The situation you want to avoid on a train or car is being trapped in a shared space with only a crazy person.
It might also be that Waymo and co have decided that the additional risk involved in putting strangers in a car together without a driver to keep an eye on them isn't worth taking on.
Are there other cities where public transit is much more dangerous? I want to give GP the benefit of the doubt, but part of me wonders if this is an irrational fear fueled by media.
I think perception and experience (direct or indirect) makes a bigger difference than just "where do you live". Some people might be scared by the media, sure, but we have both been personally assaulted several times on the train, and many more times simply freaked out and scared by weird people, and we know lots of others who have had similar experiences or worse, so based on that, no I don't think it's an irrational fear for everyone.
If you have ever been trapped in a box with an angry psychotic, you would want to avoid it.
It’s also predictable. Uber and Lyft have been so desperate for drivers they’ve accepted people who drive dangerously, cancel at the last minute or plain can’t follow driving directions. You skip that with Waymo.
Watching a couple hundred of them try to get out of a parking lot was comical.
I expect this to go away over time as people realize driverless =\= witnessless
You can quickly call for human assistance on one of the big support buttons.
What happens to the developers/manufacturers of a driverless car that kills a passenger or a pedestrian?
> how do you overcome the slight powerless feeling
There is no such alignment on a driverless car, plane or boat. No engineer or executive will get punished in case the car gets double parked, let alone if it runs over a pedestrian crossing the street.
Is that a common thing? I wouldn't be surprised honestly. I heard of the traffic cone thing but not this.
I hope very strenuously that the implication is not that you would run over people who are blocking you if you were in control of the car.
I would rather take many lives than be subjected to this sort of injury