I have repeatedly had Uber and Lyft pick a driver, I wait tens of minutes, and then the ride is cancelled. If Waymo can avoid that, then I would gladly pay MORE for it. (I waited at a hospital for 2 hours, at 2 am, one time.)
I've also had an Uber driver who had no idea how to drive. My wife had an Uber driver who was convinced the destination was a hundred yards into one of the Great Lakes, and couldn't be convinced to change their mind.
I think you're also underestimating the value of long-haul rides. If I can get a "moving hotel" that drives me over night to an awesome destination, I think that would be awesome. I mean, ideally it's a train. But that takes tons of infrastructure we don't have. If I could pay airline rates, and not have to go through airport security, not have delayed or cancelled flights, and could travel while sleeping? That would be phenomenal. Especially right now, avoiding airports and crowded planes? And post-covid, I think it could really help tourism.
I think you're also under-valuing having a self-driving car from the novelty aspect. Picture you're at a Disneyworld Resort, and you order Lighting McQueen to take you to the Magic Kingdom. He pulls up, it looks like him, sounds like him. You hop in, and you see his face on a display, continuing to talk to you.
Heck, picture the whole car is designed like a movie theater. Nice and dark, great sound.
Also, picture a self-driving car with a liquor license. That's like limo service, at Uber price, right? Hard to do that with an actual human driver, without a limousine license, right?
And we've all seen research that says that once you get enough self-driving cars, traffic jams go away. That alone is worth the cost, and then some.
I have repeatedly had Uber and Lyft pick a driver, I wait tens of minutes, and then the ride is cancelled. If Waymo can avoid that, then I would gladly pay MORE for it. (I waited at a hospital for 2 hours, at 2 am, one time.)
I've also had an Uber driver who had no idea how to drive. My wife had an Uber driver who was convinced the destination was a hundred yards into one of the Great Lakes, and couldn't be convinced to change their mind.
I think you're also underestimating the value of long-haul rides. If I can get a "moving hotel" that drives me over night to an awesome destination, I think that would be awesome. I mean, ideally it's a train. But that takes tons of infrastructure we don't have. If I could pay airline rates, and not have to go through airport security, not have delayed or cancelled flights, and could travel while sleeping? That would be phenomenal. Especially right now, avoiding airports and crowded planes? And post-covid, I think it could really help tourism.
I think you're also under-valuing having a self-driving car from the novelty aspect. Picture you're at a Disneyworld Resort, and you order Lighting McQueen to take you to the Magic Kingdom. He pulls up, it looks like him, sounds like him. You hop in, and you see his face on a display, continuing to talk to you.
Heck, picture the whole car is designed like a movie theater. Nice and dark, great sound.
Also, picture a self-driving car with a liquor license. That's like limo service, at Uber price, right? Hard to do that with an actual human driver, without a limousine license, right?
And we've all seen research that says that once you get enough self-driving cars, traffic jams go away. That alone is worth the cost, and then some.