Waymo Robotaxis Are Giving 100,000 Rides a Week. It'll Soon Be More.

They gonna get waymo fares

Hi dad!

Can someone explain like I'm five how Waymo has robitaxis without drivers behind the wheel and automated driving such as that offered by Tesla is not yet able to do the same?

Is it just that Waymo has mapped a small area really, really well? What's the difference? Why is Tesla so bad at it but Waymo is able to do it?

- Teslas have never had LiDAR on them. You don't seem very educated on the subject you speak with such confidence of.
Going off what fishpen0 said, Waymo actually has sensors on it to detect things and can "understand" its surroundings much better than Tesla cars can wish just cameras.
I've ridden in Waymos and they are smooth riding. After the initial "OMG! There's no driver!" You kind of forget about it. You get to your (limited area) destination safely and without much hassle.
I can go more in depth if ya want.
- The problem with Teslas, or self-driving cars in general is not so much the ability to see your surroundings. Teslas can do this well enough by using just cameras while admittedly LiDAR would be even more accurate. The problem is deciding what to do with this information. It's primarily a software problem, not a hardware one.
  I’ve ridden in Waymos and they are smooth riding.
  In a recent statement on X, Tesla Autopilot Director Ashok Elluswamy highlighted the team’s focus on both smoothness and safety during the development of FSD v12.5, noting that he managed to avoid spilling open coffee for a huge portion of a recent trip.
  Many people testing FSD on youtube can confirm that it indeed is that smooth riding.
I'm not sure what you mean by suggesting Tesla is bad at it. Have you looked at any recent videos of Tesla FSD driving in cities? It's not flawless and neither is Waymo but claiming it's bad is far from the truth. Most people seem to be basing their opinion about FSD on outdated information. It has come a long way. It will reliably take you from your home to the grocery store and back with zero driver interventions. Nowdays it's almost boring to watch videos about FSD because it is so good.
- Tesla FSD has killed multiple people.

Good. Every less impatient, wreckless, human, driver on the road, the better.

Be careful with that logic, these are jobs forever lost to robots. They will eventually come for your job or the job of someone you know. Increasingly the question won’t be whether robots can do X better than humans, but whether they should.
- Reason number one million capitalism sucks. We should be happy to turn over dangerous or menial jobs to machines but we can't do that because without jobs our society views us as worthless.
- That's literally the goal.
  I used to do electrical engineering at an architecture firm, and we would say, design a hospital that has 300 identical exam rooms in it.
  Guess what happens when someone decides that we need one more outlet in one of those rooms? Or that they need to be on the other wall? Or that a new piece of furniture gets added?
  Do you think that all 300 rooms would just update with that new requirement? No. It is someone's job to sit there, click on the outlet on the pallette in the left side of their screen, drag it into the room, rotate it properly, attach it to the right wall, give it a circuit from the panel, and then repeat for 300 rooms. It can take weeks.
  I learned how to write software because I realized what a fucking crock of shit waste of time that is. Why are you celebrating and defending menial bullshit that can be automated? A utopian future is literally only possible if we automate away most jobs. I don't think our current system of resource distribution is setup for a utopian future, but it can literally only happen if all the pieces are in place for it, and automating the basic necessities (like building design, and transportation) is one of those necessary pieces. If AI automates software development, that will be awesome because then way more industries (like architecture) will be able to get the software they need to run effectively.
These things are programmed by impatient, wreckless, human, drivers.....
I cant believe they allow these things on our roads as a public beta test.
- Good thing they aren’t on your roads then, being that you’re not American, and therefore not in either of the metropolitan areas they operate. They are on my roads however, I see them all the time. I see constant terrible driving from all kinds of people, but these things are patient and I don’t think I’ve personally seen one make a mistake.
  By referring to their current stage of deployment as a public beta like it’s a bad thing you show a ton of ignorance on how testing cycles work as well. No amount of alpha testing would make these safe for broad deployment into real world scenarios that test designers can’t dream up. This is exactly the type of slow roll out that is required to get as much real experiences as possible to be programmed for.
  I have no doubt these things aren’t perfect, but they are a lot better than an overworked and tired human being the wheel.

Welcome to johnnycab!
- So it begins...

Only a matter of time when these robotaxis become a trend and start populating major cities. Eventually roads and infrastructure will get built for these cars for the sake of "convince", thus leaving out any kind of investment for public transportation and walkable roads.

That’s more than I would have expected at this stage. Huh.

I've used them a few times now and the novelty hasn't worn off yet.

When it does wear off I think I'll move back to alternatives that cost less, unless Waymo gets competitive on price.

Interesting, when I took Waymo, it was cheaper than Uber and Lyft, pre tip.
How much more does it cost to the alternatives?
- Uber is quoting me about $15 for a journey that Waymo charged me $19 for.
  There's a tip to add for the Uber ride. I'm not sure what the cost for Uber would have been when I took the Waymo.