Waymo Starts Robotaxi Testing In Philadelphia and NYC (techcrunch.com)
- Reference: 0178305152
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/07/2136225/waymo-starts-robotaxi-testing-in-philadelphia-and-nyc
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/07/waymo-starts-robotaxi-testing-in-philadelphia-and-nyc/
> Typically, the trips involve sending a small fleet of human-driven vehicles equipped with Waymo's autonomous driving system to map out the new city. Then Waymo tests the vehicles autonomously, though still with a human behind the wheel, before taking any data and learnings back to its engineers to improve the AI driver's performance. In some cases, these road trips have led to commercial launches. In 2023, the company made a road trip to Santa Monica, a city in Los Angeles County. The company now operates a commercial service in Los Angeles, including Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood.
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> For its Philadelphia trip, Waymo plans to place vehicles in the most complex parts of the city, including downtown and freeways, according to a spokesperson. She noted folks will see Waymo vehicles driving "at all hours throughout various Philadelphia neighborhoods, from North Central to Eastwick, University City, and as far east as the Delaware River."
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> In NYC, Waymo will drive its cars manually in Manhattan just north of Central Park down to The Battery and parts of Downtown Brooklyn. The company will also map parts of Jersey City and Hoboken in New Jersey. Waymo applied last month for a permit to test its AVs in New York City with a human behind the wheel. The company has not yet received approval.
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/07/waymo-starts-robotaxi-testing-in-philadelphia-and-nyc/
We're going to put 30 million people out of work (Score:2)
Very soon. That's on top of stuff like how Amazon uses 50% robots in its warehouses and that percentage continues to increase.
We are going to have major social problems when that unemployment hits. There isn't going to be anything for those people to do. Especially the Uber drivers. Uber is pretty much the bottom of employment in america, sub minimum wage in many cases. If you're at that level then it's because there isn't anything else for you.
People always say that there will always just be more j
Re: We're going to put 30 million people out of wo (Score:1)
Does it ever accelerate to the point we feel the wave crash or do we just continue to stay ahead of the crest to where it feels normal? Itâ(TM)s a confusing time
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. There are tipping points where everything completely goes to shit. It'll be around the time we hit about 10 to 15% permanent unemployment. That starts to trigger feedback loops where lower consumer demand causes businesses to lay people off increasing the unemployment which causes lower consumer demand which causes businesses to lay people off which... You get the idea.
Over time the world's going to basically become a giant prison system. Drones will be used to keep us under control and the ruling
Re: (Score:2)
Tax and redistribute, we can just say it. If unemployment is going up but so is GDP, money is being made somewhere.
Tax it and use it to build and maintain a robust welfare state apparatus. If we want to tie to a work requirement because you know, America, then fine, bring back the WPA.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not going to happen at all. Democrats will literally throw an election before they will help hold money accountable.
Vladimir Putin thanks you for your service (Score:2)
Ignoring the fact that the affordable Care act is right there proving you are wrong all the left wing can do is shit on the centrists. You're all completely fucking useless. Hell worse than useless you do positive harm. A bunch of angry 12-year-olds who refuse to acknowledge reality.
Nina Turner is quite possibly the worst politician in American history. She ran as a Democrat and a primary election and spent the entire election talking about how terrible the people she needed to vote for her were. Absol
Re: (Score:2)
> Ignoring the fact that the affordable Care act is right there proving you are wrong
You mean where profit for insurance companies is written into the act? Clown.
Re: (Score:2)
> Tax and redistribute
Sure. So everybody without income is basically kept as a pet of those who still do something and have income.
Re: (Score:2)
That's why it's the welfare state . Like I said, we can make a work program so everybody's panties don't get in a bunch. And yes wealthy people and hierarchy can still exist too, are we happy yet? I'm willing to eat a lot of our protestant conservative work ethic bullshit to get to humanitarian end point instead of the dystopian one.
So the ruling class isn't going to allow that (Score:2)
You can use overwhelming propaganda to get any election to 47% and a bit of voter suppression to close that Gap. That's how Donald Trump won the election even though his policies are intensely unpopular. He is still polling at around 46% even though 71 million people are on Medicaid and about to lose access to healthcare and hundreds of rural and suburban hospitals are on track to close...
You do eventually get to a point where the propaganda isn't enough but by then the ruling class have completely elim
Re: (Score:2)
Solving the right wing media operation and how they are able to fall into lockstep on messaging is really the question everyone is looking for an answer to and yeah I'm not gonna say I know but you are correct in that without solving that it's really rough.
Until then I think Democrats are gonna have to engage on right wing media more, go into the bears nest and try to fuck them up. For that though you really need that messaging discipline, have some key big policies/goals, get everyone on board and just ha
Re: (Score:2)
> 71 million people are on Medicaid and about to lose access to healthcare
I don't see why people are saying this. People on reddit are saying, "I'm on medicaid, I'm' going to die."
There are 71 million people on medicaid. It's getting a 12% cut, and that will harm some people. But how do you equate it to a 100% cut?
Look at this [1]graph [usgovernmentspending.com]. Reducing medicaid by 12% takes it down to $700B which only rolls it back to the level of 2021 or 2022.
And this reduction is supposed to phase in over the next 10 year
[1] https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/include/usgs_chartSp21t.png
Re: (Score:2)
> People always say that there will always just be more jobs but what do you actually have the base that off of?
History.
We have had generation after generation of inventions that put vast swaths of people out of work. Nobody blacksmiths any more. Very few work on farms any more. Very few work in factories any more, at least in First World countries. Hardly any ports have longshoremen any more. There are no telephone operators, or telegraph operators. All those jobs are just...GONE!
And yet, we are all employed. At least, everybody who really wants to work, is employed.
The AI revolution is not different. It's just anot
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It's funny that you cite Amazon as an example of a company putting people out of work by using robots. And yet, Amazon employs more than 1.5 *million* people. And their workforce is increasing by about 2.3% per year.
They should keep doing more of whatever they're doing, if we want more jobs for people!
Philadelphia is a grid pattern with wide streets (Score:2)
There are some narrow/one-way streets in a few parts of the grid, mainly in the older parts of town toward the Delaware side, and a couple of oddities with active trolley tracks, but mostly it's a rationally laid out place where they took care to make surface transportation as painless as possible.
Suburbs are mostly a grid too.
Philadelphia is Northeast cities on easy mode.
Boston roads on the other hand...third world at best.
Re: (Score:2)
> There are some narrow/one-way streets in a few parts of the grid, mainly in the older parts of town toward the Delaware side, and a couple of oddities with active trolley tracks, but mostly it's a rationally laid out place where they took care to make surface transportation as painless as possible.
> Suburbs are mostly a grid too.
> Philadelphia is Northeast cities on easy mode.
> Boston roads on the other hand...third world at best.
Boston on July 4: "You can't get there from here." When they shut down Storrow Dr., all those one-way streets become the tenth circle of hell.
Ok Philly letâ(TM)s be our best selves (Score:1)
Letâ(TM)s not beat the shit out of these cars like we did the robot a few years ago
Re: Ok Philly letâ(TM)s be our best selves (Score:1)
The robot...santa claus...utility poles...random people trying to take the subway....fun times.