Waymo, the subsidiary of Alphabet (aka Google), has started its commercial self-driving ride Sharing service. This is currently limited to cities surrounding Phoenix Arizona. This includes Tempe, Mesa and Chandler. The Waymo One program will give customers rides in self-driving vehicles 24 hours a day.
Waymo driver with over 10 million miles of experience on public roads.
In June, Waymo ordered 62,000 Pacifica minivans. There will likely be rapid expansion from Arizona.
GM as said they will start offering their own self-driving car service in 2019. However, this could slip to 2020.
Ford says they are coming with a very wide release around 2023.
Calling a Waymo on the App
1. To get started, confirm your pickup location.
2. Let Waymo know where you want to go. Type in your destination and confirm the safest place to meet your ride. 3. Accept by pressing the Request Ride button. You’ll soon be on your way.
Up to three adults and a child can ride.
There is currently a safety driver.
Waymo Seems to Offer a Price Advantage Ovee Lyft and Uber
Using a 4.6 mile trip that would take 12 minutes for a price comparison.
Waymo charges $7.32 for the trip.
Lyft quotes $8.29.
Uber quotes $9.38.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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That’s because you’re the one in the taxi, trying walking across a road sometime.
There is still a safety driver on-board, it’s only the first small-scale roll-out, and there are no other autonomous taxi services yet to provide competition. It’s not surprising that the initial price is relatively high. There’s still a lot of potential for it to drop as the technology matures, the scale is increased, and more competition enters the market. That’s how it works with many new products.
I’ve caught taxis heaps of times and never been murdered even once.
You must be doing it wrong.
At a cost of 1.591/mile, i would have to pay $67 everyday for a round trip to work.
What a rip off over the the rosy promises of a future of cheap murder free transport.
Waymo charges $7.32 for the trip.
Lyft quotes $8.29, driver earns $0.97 over waymo
Uber quotes $9.38, driver earns 2.06
Taking the driver out of the equation does not save much, at least for short trips.
2037 – Remember when regular people still had jobs? I member.
No.
Let the death races begin.