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Businesses Transportation

Waymo Starts To Open Driverless Ride-Hailing Service To the Public (techcrunch.com) 41

Posted by msmash from the watch-out dept.
Waymo, the Google self-driving-project-turned-Alphabet unit, is beginning to open up its driverless ride-hailing service to the public. From a report: The company said that starting today members of its Waymo One service will be able to take family and friends along on their fully driverless rides in the Phoenix area. Existing Waymo One members will have the first access to the driverless rides -- terminology that means no human behind the wheel. However, the company said that in the next several weeks more people will be welcomed directly into the service through its app, which is available on Google Play and the App Store. Waymo said that 100% of its rides will be fully driverless -- which it has deemed its "rider only" mode. That 100% claim requires a bit of unpacking. The public shouldn't expect hundreds of Waymo-branded Chrysler Pacifica minivans -- no human behind the wheel -- to suddenly inundate the entire 600-plus square miles of the greater Phoenix area. Waymo has abut 600 vehicles in its fleet. About 300 to 400 of those are in the Phoenix area. Waymo wouldn't share exact numbers of how many of these vehicles would be dedicated to driverless rides. However, Waymo CEO John Krafcik explained to TechCrunch in a recent interview, that there will be various modes operating in the Phoenix area. Some of these will be "rider only," while other vehicles will still have train safety operators behind the wheel. Some of the fleet will also be used for testing.
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Waymo Starts To Open Driverless Ride-Hailing Service To the Public More

Waymo Starts To Open Driverless Ride-Hailing Service To the Public

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  • I thought this was still years down the road. Guess the hemorrhaging of human jobs giving way to autonomous driving gets underway now.

    • Re:bad time to be an Uber driver (Score:4, Interesting)

      by im_thatoneguy ( 819432 ) on Thursday October 08, 2020 @01:08PM (#60585818)

      Yeah it's amusing that as of like 2 days ago people were still saying that self driving cars were impossible and would never work in Slashdot comments.

      This is great news for Tesla. It proves that it's theoretically possible to make Autopilot work. Although the Tesla approach and the Waymo approach are so different that it doesn't yet confirm that Tesla's big data, sensor/map light approach specifically will pan out.

      Usually though the largest impediment to widespread adoption is a single proof of concept working.

      • Re:bad time to be an Uber driver (Score:4, Insightful)

        by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Thursday October 08, 2020 @02:11PM (#60586046)
        In the case of self-driving cars, the technology really does matter. A Waymo success is not going to transfer to Tesla, or vice versa, for several years.

        The different strategies are fascinating to watch.

        Toyota and Mercedes are smart and started early but have proceeded so cautiously, they'd never get there. They're so big they have too much to lose.

        Uber went at it aggressively and ineptly. Fail.

        Tesla has proceeded remarkably far by being aggressive and using their customers as beta testers for progressive automation. They've made it work and might win.

        Waymo started early and has poured money into research and testing, and has chosen to focus on full automation rather than assists. They seem on track to get there first, but there is no partial success for them. If the research stalls out before full autonomy is viable, they lose.

      • They are impossible and they won't work. They're pushing it out the door regardless of whether the gods-be-damned thing works correctly, is practical, is safe, or not, because their necks are on the boards of directors and stockholders' chopping blocks if they don't deliver a marketable product and start earning back some of the hundreds of millions that has been invested in what they thought was Just Another Development Cycle but that has turned out to be one of the biggest boondoggles in tech history.
        Now
      • Fully general automation is what most people say won't work. If the ride-sharing company is allowed to restrict when and where the vehicles are allowed to go... that will probably work. And, as such, it isn't a fully general automated car, and so doesn't prove anything for Tesla. The set-up mentioned in the summary, where there is a human monitor there "sometimes, as determined by the service", makes it pretty easy to obfuscate what the unsupervised vehicles are and are not allowed to do.

    • Good time to be an Uber driver. You'll soon be doing something more useful with your life instead of being essentially a scab taxi driver without the pay and benefits.

      Every advance of technology that has eliminated menial jobs in the past several hundred years has turned out to be a good thing for those workers in the long run. There's no reason to think that track record suddenly changes now.

  • and will riders have to face criminal consequences for an crashes like the uber safety driver?
    Be on the hook for an DUI if in driver less mode (as stop button may count as in control under the DUI law)

  • Then out come the pitchforks demanding Waymo end its business and autonomous vehicles be banned.
    Meanwhile the tens of thousands of deaths per year by human drivers don't get the same reaction.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

      I'm sure Google has thought through this PR scenario.

      • They probably waited until the 100% driverless cars passed 113 million miles (the current fatality rate) before this rollout. So now if anyone dies they can immediately say "Even with this tragic death we are still safer than a human driver."

      • The same way they thought about people wearing Google Glasses being attacked or banned?
    • I don't consider the "deaths" the same. The number of taxi deaths per year is a better comparison.

    • Self-driving cars have already killed people.

      The sky didn't fall. People are not as stupid as you think they are.

      List of self-driving car fatalities [wikipedia.org]

      • It's pretty easy to defend a practice that kills people while you know you are not going to be one of those people.

        • It's pretty easy to defend a practice that kills people while you know you are not going to be one of those people.

          How do I know that? Why am I less likely to die than anyone else?

          • Do you have any exacerbating medical issues that would give you reason to think you are at more risk like some people? If you only have average risk then count yourself lucky.

    • That sure worked well for elevator operators.

    • Tell you what: I get in an accident caused by a so-called shitty 'self driving car'? Out comes the sledgehammer, and I smash the shit out of the thing. Because that'll be the only justice I get.

  • I am happy to see this, it should allow them to get more and better data in their limited area before rolling out on a larger scale. And the fact that anyone has done it should give more confidence to others to try as well. I had hoped that we'd have seen this 5 years ago, but better late than never.

  • "Some of these will be "rider only," while other vehicles will still have train safety operators behind the wheel."

    That would help if they were sensible self-driving vehicles, AKA trains.

    Nice work, "editors"

    • That would help if they were sensible self-driving vehicles, AKA trains.

      There is no train track from my house to the grocery store, nor will there ever be.

      • "There is no train track from my house to the grocery store, nor will there ever be."

        You probably wouldn't like a full-scale track next to your house, but a nice PRT might be convenient. If you live in the boonies, though, you're last.

  • I will bet this is not going full release in all weather. This will be operating on fair weather days in above freezing climate only.
  • ..for me to get my custom-made cycling jersey with the full-size 'STOP' sign on the back, with text below it: "For cyclists, for safetys' sake". Just to screw with the so-called 'self driving car' garbage, that won't be able to tell the difference between my jersey and an actual STOP sign because the piece of shit has zero capacity to THINK.
  • Be a test dummy for Waymo to go and be a test dummy for a covid vaccine.

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