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    California DMV approves map increase in Waymo driverless operations

    (www.dmv.ca.gov)
    207 points NullHypothesist | 11 comments | 21 Nov 25 22:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.378s | source | bottom
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    willio58 ◴[22 Nov 25 00:14 UTC] No.46010696[source]▶
    I didn’t think I’d be so pro Waymo but anecdotally I had a fantastic experience with one recently.

    I was at a music show very late ~1-2am in SF and walked out to grab an uber to the airbnb I was staying at. I kept getting assigned an uber, then I’d wait 10 minutes, then they’d cancel. Rinse and repeat for 30 minutes, mind you I even resorted to calling Lyfts at the same time and nothing bit. Then I say screw it and download Waymo. 1 minute and it’s accepted my ride, and I know it’s not going to cancel because it’s a robot. 3 minutes and it picks me up. The car is clean, quiet, I can play my own music in it via Spotify, and it’s driving honestly more safely than some uber drivers I’ve had in SF. It’s one of the few things where the end result actually lives up to the promise from a tech company.

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    1. poszlem ◴[22 Nov 25 00:27 UTC] No.46010784[source]▶
    Not saying this HAS to happen. But I remember when Ubers were clean, quiet, cheap too. I think you are just looking at a product before the enshittification, when they still have to pretend they care about your comfort.
    replies(4): >>46010807 #>>46010859 #>>46010896 #>>46011046 #
    2. Rodeoclash ◴[22 Nov 25 00:30 UTC] No.46010807[source]▶
    It will undoubtedly get enshittifed in its own way, probably higher prices, but at least it will be reliable when booked. Ubers seem to be a crap shoot these days if they're actually going to come and get you.
    replies(2): >>46010956 #>>46011446 #
    3. sneak ◴[22 Nov 25 00:38 UTC] No.46010859[source]▶
    Uber, when it was launched, was limos only, and would come (with ETA) when cabs would not. It was expensive.

    The story they told is that they were unable to get a ride. That’s not enshittification, that’s simply scammers on the platform not doing their job.

    That won’t happen with robots.

    They might raise the prices, or clean the cars less frequently, but if it shows up and runs the program, it won’t ever get worse than that.

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    4. davidw ◴[22 Nov 25 00:43 UTC] No.46010896[source]▶
    I wonder what the non-subsidized price of a Waymo ride would be.
    replies(2): >>46010936 #>>46011382 #
    5. explodes ◴[22 Nov 25 00:45 UTC] No.46010906[source]▶
    In-Ride Ads coming soon to a car ride near you
    6. whatshisface ◴[22 Nov 25 00:50 UTC] No.46010936[source]▶
    Lower prices for recommended destinations, ads played during trip, LLM engages the customer.
    7. astrange ◴[22 Nov 25 00:51 UTC] No.46010952[source]▶
    Uber still is like that if you choose that option. It just defaults to UberX because that's cheaper. I dunno, I've never been in a dirty Uber/Lyft.

    But yes, I originally switched to them because Bay Area cabs just will not pick you up if they don't feel like it.

    8. virtue3 ◴[22 Nov 25 00:52 UTC] No.46010956[source]▶
    the same exact problems we had with Taxis. Sigh.
    9. conradev ◴[22 Nov 25 01:02 UTC] No.46011046[source]▶
    You're not allowed to smoke cigarettes in a Waymo, whereas UberX drivers are allowed to, I believe, off the clock.

    I do worry in general about what the enshittification of Waymo will look like, though.

    10. tonyhart7 ◴[22 Nov 25 02:01 UTC] No.46011382[source]▶
    earlier price is steep because they still have huge RnD cost but if we scale that to one planet, it would been cheaper in the long run
    11. Analemma_ ◴[22 Nov 25 02:15 UTC] No.46011446[source]▶
    I can't guarantee that Waymo won't be enshittified, but one fundamental difference with Uber is that Waymo doesn't need to compete in the labor market for drivers. When the low end of the labor market got red hot in 2023-24, that's when Uber prices climbed rapidly because drivers had other options; Waymo won't have this problem. It won't be affected by other things like ever-rising health care costs or local regulations guaranteeing driver wage floors either.