from the why-not-use-customers-for-beta-testing dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes:
Waymo plans to add another 500 minivans to the ones they already have wired for autonomous operation and let selected customers in the Phoenix area use them. Story found at this link, http://www.automotivetestingtechnologyinternational.com/news.php?NewsID=85295
These vehicles have already been tested on public roads by employees and contractors. The latest trials will enable the company to obtain data on how people experience and use self-driving vehicles.
Waymo is looking for participants from a range of backgrounds with different transportation needs. Initial users will be able to book minivans using a mobile app.
“We’re at the point when it’s really important to find how real people, outside the Google environment, will use this technology. Our goal is that they will use this for all their transportation needs,” said John Krafcik, Waymo CEO.
Krafcik seems to be another one of the anointed ones out of Detroit, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Krafcik See for example the meteoric ride (and eventual crash landing) of John Z. DeLorean...
Related Stories
Waymo has announced a driverless taxi service called Waymo One, but it will only be usable for around 400 preapproved "early riders" in the Phoenix metro area, rather than the general public. While self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans will be used, they will continue to retain a safety driver behind the wheel.
Waymo's "new" service could be described as a launch in name only:
The banner Waymo is unfurling, though, is tattered by caveats. Waymo One will only be available to the 400 or so people already enrolled in Waymo's early rider program, which has been running in the calm, sunny Phoenix suburb of Chandler for about 18 months. (They can bring guests with them and have been freed from non-disclosure agreements that kept them from publicly discussing their experiences.) More glaringly, the cars will have a human behind the wheel, there to take control in case the car does something it shouldn't.
So no, this is not the anyone-can-ride, let-the-robot-drive experience Waymo and its competitors have been promising for years. Building a reliably safe system has proven far harder than just about everyone anticipated and its cars aren't ready to drive without human oversight. But Waymo promised to launch a commercial service sometime in 2018, it didn't want to miss its deadline and risk its reputation as the leader of the industry it essentially created, and not even the might of Waymo parent company Alphabet can delay the end of the calendar year.
So Waymo is pushing out a software update, tweaking its branding, and calling it a launch.
Also at Reuters, Gizmodo, The Atlantic, and Ars Technica.
See also: Waymo's driverless cars on the road: Cautious, clunky, impressive
Previously: Google/Waymo Self-Driving Minivan Tested with the Public in Phoenix AZ
Waymo Orders Thousands More Chrysler Pacifica Minivans for Driverless Fleet
Walmart and Waymo to Trial Driverless Shuttle Service in Phoenix for Grocery Pickups
Google's Waymo Plans to Launch a Self-Driving Car Service in December (the service falls short of what is described in this November article)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 13 2017, @02:25AM (10 children)
Offering public transportation to select individuals will tell you little. Cherry picked customers, picked on what basis, exactly? Education? Neighborhood? Affluence? Uh-huh - you're going to get the kind of results you want, just like polling certain demographics.
When the service opens to the general public, it will be like mass transit buses, trains, trolleys, or whatever. The poor people will be using them. Poor people do some funny things when they don't own stuff. Graffiti, vandalism, outright destruction. How ya gonna prevent druggies from using the service? Despite rave reviews early on, self driving vehicles used for public transportation will turn into utter trash, real soon. At which point, the people being solicited right now will turn their backs on the entire scheme.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @02:40AM (9 children)
Have you even ridden public transit in the past ten years? I doubt you have. You would have noticed that graffiti is nonexistent and vandalism just does not happen anymore. There are cameras everywhere and vandals are identified and prosecuted. No one dares to risk tagging a vehicle because everyone knows the certainty of getting caught. Transit companies strictly enforce codes of conduct now and disruptive riders are removed immediately.
Ride a bus sometime. You will be pleasantly surprised at how neat and clean and orderly it is. Big Brother and Social Justice Warriors are ever vigilantly looking after you.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 13 2017, @02:50AM (3 children)
"graffiti is nonexistent and vandalism just does not happen anymore."
You've done an exhaustive survey of all public transportation, across the nation? Or, an even more exhaustive survey of all public transportation around the globe? No graffiti? People no longer do disgusting things on buses, trains, or whatever? I'm shocked, I tell you. The human race is evolving!
And, with that being the case, then WTF does the US still lock up more people than all the rest of the world?
OH! WAIT! Maybe what you're trying to tell me is, today's youth are to illiterate to spray paint slogans on buses and trains? Ah-HA!! THOSE ARE THE JOBS THAT AMERICANS ARE TO LAZY TO DO!! Grafiti spraying has been taken over by gangs from Latin America! Got it! Oh, thank you for the enlightenment, Oh, Wise Anonymous Coward!!
/sarcasem
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @02:54AM (1 child)
I rode a bus today. Did you?
Everyone on the bus is constantly using a smartphone. Why graffiti when you can troll instead?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @02:08PM
I picked my nose today. Did you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @05:02AM
Prisons in America are a business. So any reason is OK to get "clients". Anything for the all mighty dollar.
Sometimes, they are just side effects of actions for profit or control (which in the end, in America, seems to be about profit too), like the War on Drugs. At least if you believe people in charge at the time when they declare it was targeted against blacks and hippies. http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/ [cnn.com]
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday May 13 2017, @03:14AM (2 children)
You know who has? I have. And the last time I did an old bum was kneading his dick and saying, "Fuck...fuck...fuck...fuck..." the whole trip.
You'd be surprised to know that was in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the world! If an expensive city like San Francisco with one of the highest standards of living won't do anything about that, who can?!
Also - Qualcomm is yet another big player sticking its finger into the self-driving pie, you can see it driving throughout the businessparks of Sorrento Valley. Mod up +1, Informative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @03:17AM (1 child)
Your example is shit since talking to yourself in public isn't unusual anymore ever since, guess what, smartphones!
Troll harder you dumbfuck.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 13 2017, @02:10PM
Yeah - ask Anthony Weiner about smart phones and dicks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @04:58AM (1 child)
In DC you have the same cameras but great variability between buses. Sometimes there will be food, trash, and worse littering the seats. Other times the driver will be active in demanding money from fare dodgers and not putting up with bullshit. Graffiti is indeed nearly nonexistent.
Public transit is better than what Runaway thinks but judging from Uber driver stories, autonomous taxis will become magnets for puke and trash. No babysitter to tell them no, and it probably won't drive your ass to jail.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 13 2017, @07:15PM
Public transit is better than what Runaway thinks
Runaway is a senile sack of shit with a big fat cunt mouth. Notice how he doesn't fucking admit he hasn't been on a bus in forever. Old man Runaway doesn't know shit about the world outside the nursing home basement.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday May 13 2017, @11:06AM
Maybe they could contact the senior citizens center and offer rides for grannies and grandpas.
As far as I am concerned, these are the first people who should benefit from this new technology. Added points for helping disabled people.
For now, I have alternatives for my transportation needs. There are those not nearly as fortunate. I would just as soon let them benefit first.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]