Waymo To Launch Commercial Robotaxi Service in Austin By End of the Year (techcrunch.com) 17
Waymo will begin offering a robotaxi service to the public in Los Angeles this week and in Austin by the end of the year, the company's co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said Wednesday at SXSW. From a report: The Alphabet company has been testing and validating its driverless vehicles across about 43 square miles around downtown, Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin and Hyde Park neighborhoods. The announcement comes about a week after Waymo started letting its autonomous vehicles traverse Austin without a safety operator behind the wheel, a critical step before the company opens the program up to the public.
Opening up a robotaxi service means the public will be able to hail a ride in a driverless car via the Waymo One app. Importantly, Waymo will be able to charge for those rides. Austin will become the fourth city where Waymo operates a commercial driverless service. Waymo also operates a robotaxi service in Phoenix, San Francisco and soon Los Angeles.
Opening up a robotaxi service means the public will be able to hail a ride in a driverless car via the Waymo One app. Importantly, Waymo will be able to charge for those rides. Austin will become the fourth city where Waymo operates a commercial driverless service. Waymo also operates a robotaxi service in Phoenix, San Francisco and soon Los Angeles.
No more tipping, (Score:2)
Also, on my way home from the clubs I won't make anyone mad when I throw up in the back seat.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
No more tipping,
Given all the stupid places I'm asked for a tip before service or where no service was giving, I wouldn't be surprised at being asked for a tip on a robotaxi. It is cleaned and monitored by humans.
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Until you get picked up by a Johnny Cab.
could be convenient (Score:3)
I'm curious to know how much they will charge for the rides. Will it arrive faster and be cheaper than an Uber? Do the Waymo vehicles travel along at an ordinary rate of speed? Or are they overly cautious drivers that are prone to stop when there is no reason?
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The prices are often comparable, the wait times can be longer from what I've found -- with the caveat that Waymo tends to be more accurate on their wait times since they’ve just assign a car and there's no pesky human deciding not to pick you up.
I wouldn't say overly cautious, but they do follow the speed limit which Uber drivers won't often do. They also don't get on the freeway that I've observed. I've had once instance of getting stuck behind a parking car where they’ll really needed to j
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Thanks for that very interesting info about the service. It sounds reasonably good.
Never coming! (Score:2)
For the number of articles I have read about how "self-driving cars are never going to happen," including such details as their total inability to make an unprotected left turn, Google seem to be opening a lot of (presumably functional) services.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10... [techcrunch.com]
https://www.lifewire.com/why-s... [lifewire.com]
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0... [nytimes.com]
What gives? Feels like some people desperately want them not to happen...
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I think it speaks to a difference in methodology. Google and now Waymo as it's called has been plugging away at this for the better part of a decade and I remember a few years ago when self driving was bustling with startups the prevailing thought was "Waymo is going too slow and too cautiously" but here we are now and Waymo is slowing plugging ahead while Uber is out of the game, Mobileye is sorta out of things, Cruise is buried in bad press and problems and while Tesla is still there doing work they also
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Self-driving is different than robo-taxi.
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are you suggesting Waymo is not using self driving for its robo taxi?
can you get an DUI in one? (Score:3)
can you get an DUI in one? as the law is vague on what is in control
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You aren't allowed to sit in the driver seat, so there is no one operating the vehicle. Its done under full license with the state. AFAIK the cops can't actually issue a ticket to one (there's a different agency over it, at least in CA), but they also don't speed, always use the blinker, don't swerve in lanes etc so not much of a reason to.
driverless or just remotely operated? (Score:3)
Are these robotaxis autonomous or just remotely operated ? How far do they travel before needing human input?
Cruise were boasting about several million miles of self-driving before admitting they needed input from some jerk with a laptop every few miles.
I notice these PR articles keep saying "nobody in the drivers seat" where they used to say "self-driving". Have the lawyers made them change the wording?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
They're self driving until they get stuck. I've taken 35-40 trips and gotten stuck once where they actually came online to get the car moving (there was someone talking). After friend got stuck on a low viz corner in my neighborhood, I noticed more cars with drivers showing up the next few days, guessing to get more data on it.
I think the real test is how long it takes to get operational in a new city. Like after LA & Austin, how long will it take the next 20 cities (outside of building the cars, log
more crowdsourcing needed (Score:2)
I don't get why these self-driving companies don't give away their cars by the thousands, in learning only mode, to folks who agree to drive them and have everything recorded. Then we could have some real data. Also, when accidents occur, we could see whether the car would or could have avoided it.