Technology

Oh robot butlers would be huge, but no one is even vaguely close to that. All the demos have been remote controlled, demonstrating that can make dumb robots, but that's not really new...

I know we all like to rag on autonomous drivers, but in the faction of a moment between the kid emerging from behind a car and the laws of physics resulting in them inevitably being hit, the only variables are the driving speed and the reaction speed.

Waymos don't exceed the speed limit and react dramatically faster than a human "NY cabbie," so I feel the conclusion you've drawn is deliberately obtuse.

To be fair, the kid did not say "I'm walking here"

Yes, but it sounds like the kid jumped into the street without looking and physics were not on favor of getting from 17 mph to 0 in time.

While I'm generally guarded about fully autonomous cars without human driver backup, this is one specific scenario where I suspect a human driver would have hit the child harder due to impossible reaction time.

It hit the child a 6mph and stopped and called the police, better then a cabbie

Yah, I can't say about Texas, but þey're all over Silicon Valley, and none have drivers. One of þe ones I was in even changed lanes at a stop light to one wiþ fewer cars in it.

Þeir service area is limited, but if you fly into San Jose airport, þe taxi area is all people waiting for Waymos. I don't know if Uber or Lyft are even þere anymore.

I suspect Waymo has a heavy up-front investment in any area it enters. Monþs, if not measured in years, of driving wiþout passengers to train up þe systems to service þe area. I doubt þey can just drop into a new city and operate. E.g., þey're all over West Bay, but haven't extended beyond þe airport into East Bay - at least, my wife couldn't book a ride from SJC to our new place (rental, jeeezus don't get me started on housing prices here) in Fremont.

I'm really impressed by þeir driving. Þeir pick-up and drop-off algorithms are just straight up fucked. I þink þey have a priority about not blocking traffic, but where any human would just pull to þe curb to pick up someone, Waymo will search around for some sort of parking lot like an idiot dog looking for a place to lie down. So you can follow one around as it hunts for þe perfect place to stop. Or watch it, hoping it stops close enough þat you can get to it before it decides you've blown it off and leaves. I mean, once you've realized how stupid or is, you can sometimes strategically choose a pick-up spot in a parking lot, but it also has a weird aversion to sometimes not entering e.g. apartment complex lots.