Waymo To Expand Robotaxi Service To Las Vegas, San Diego and Detroit Next Year (reuters.com)
- Reference: 0179955188
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/11/03/2134217/waymo-to-expand-robotaxi-service-to-las-vegas-san-diego-and-detroit-next-year
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/technology/waymo-expand-robotaxi-service-las-vegas-san-diego-detroit-next-year-2025-11-03/
> The new Zeekr model, developed with Chinese automaker Geely, are designed specifically for robotaxi use cases and will be rolled out gradually as the company expands its service. [...] Waymo plans to launch the service in Las Vegas next summer, while in San Diego, it is working with local officials and first responders to secure deployment permits. In Detroit, the company said its winter-weather testing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula has strengthened its ability to operate year-round, where it has long maintained engineering operations.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/technology/waymo-expand-robotaxi-service-las-vegas-san-diego-detroit-next-year-2025-11-03/
Chinese automaker Geely (Score:3)
So much for the ban on Chinese cars in USA.
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Was there ever a ban, or just tarrifs high enough to price Chinese vehicles out of the market? Since Waymo isn't selling vehicles, perhaps that isn't an obstacle for them.
Uber driver is basically the bottom of our economy (Score:3)
It's the closest thing to a social safety net America's allowed to have. Besides a bunch of illegal immigrants if I take an hour I can guarantee you it's a laid off person usually in their 50s or older and completely unable to get other gainful work.
There's also a smattering of ex cons who are past the time went background checks should be finding their old convictions but thanks to modern software they still show up in various systems.
We are about to do away with basically all delivery drivers and taxi drivers. There'll be a handful of people that handle heavier stuff but even those guys will probably be in the back of a self-driving car and therefore less skilled.
I guess what I'm getting at is we've got about 15 million of those in this country, they have absolutely no other options even if you're going to pretend they're magically going to be a bunch of new jobs from some super futuristic thing nobody can seem to name.
So in the very near future we are going to have about 15 million completely unemployable people. We're also going to take their earnings out of the economy and move them into the banks of super duper big corporations. That money will no longer circulate in the economy.
Those 15 million people aren't going to just put a gun to their heads and pull the trigger. They are going to cause massive amounts of social unrest. We are talking about basically doubling the unemployment rate maybe tripling it.
And that's before we talk about the knock-on effects of all that money exiting the economy.
Remember folks once we hit 25% unemployment we are looking at world war 3. That's the point where world war I and II had the unemployment at. At that point the social unrest created by that many unemployable people inevitably creates wars.
Only this time we've got nukes and a crazy old man wearing orange makeup that wants to start testing them again.
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Why do you post the same shit in virtually every post you make?
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Screaming into the void.
need to lower full time hours? lower medicare age? (Score:2)
need to lower full time hours? lower medicare age?
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That's stealing from hard-working 'mericans. So that's not on the table. Best I can do is world war 3 and the end of the human race.
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We should all just go hide in a cave and die! I mean, really, the world is ending because of Waymo, right?
Waymo now operates in 5 cities, and is adding 3. There are about 350 cities in the US over 100,000 population. They've got a LOT of cities to go before they cover all of those. And even longer before they make inroads into smaller towns, where self-driving cars can't even dare to go.
In San Francisco, it's home base, Waymo has made it to 27% market share, still leaving room for a lot of Uber drivers.
It's
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I mean not much point in hiding. The bunker buster is the 1% have will collapse the cave you're in. Might as well just hang out for the nuclear blast at that point
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Good point. I've been to the NORAD bunker inside Cheyenne Mountain, it's designed to withstand a direct hit by a nuclear explosion. Maybe that will work. On the other hand, it only has a few months-worth of food and water, so eventually I'd have to come out. So in the meantime, I'll just enjoy riding in a Waymo (when it finally, one day, comes to my city) until the world disintegrates.
Didn't see cat sitting in front of Waymo. Killed. (Score:1)
One of the witnesses said that missing in Waymo’s statement was the fact that KitKat was “positioned for a while directly in front of the vehicle” before the autonomous vehicle pulled out.
Waymo confirmed on Thursday night that one of its autonomous vehicles killed KitKat, a beloved liquor store cat in the Mission District known by many as “the 16th Street ambassador.”
“We reviewed this, and while our vehicle was stopped to pick up passengers, a nearby cat darted under our
Detroit is the big one. (Score:3)
It is the furthest north city aside from NYC that Waymo is in. NYC has a really modern snow removal system, while Detroit... does not.
Working in Detroit means they expect it to handle ice and snow well.
How is being on the hook for liability, upkeep, cl (Score:3)
How is being on the hook for liability, upkeep, cleaning, buying the car, etc. Cost less then passing the big costs to driver who owns their own car?
Will they go to Las Vegas airport? (Score:2)
Will these driverless cabs go to the Las Vegas airport (and in a way that's actually useful for people flying in and out and at a reasonable price) or will the Vegas taxi Mafia stop that from happening?
also needs to be less then the flat rate from the (Score:2)
also needs to be less then the flat rate from the airport.
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> also needs to be less then the flat rate from the airport.
Price always matters, but you don't have to tip the waymo driver (at least I never have, and the AI does not seem to expect it), so total pricing is what matters. To this point Waymo's pricing is in the same order of magnitude as the competition (more than a typical Uber or Lyft before tips, but not way out of line), although they have the parent company resources to undercut any price they want if they decide to own any market they want.
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> Will these driverless cabs go to the Las Vegas airport
Initially the answer is no (primarily they will serve the strip and immediate surrounding areas). They claim they intend to expand to include the airport (the taxi cabal will no doubt try to stop them). Of course, they still don't serve their "home town" airports SFO (or SJC) yet, either. The only airport that they currently serve is PHX.
I do wonder if they will expand the Bay Area service and include Levi's Stadium before the Big Game in February 2026 (and of course for the FIFA World Cup later in 20
Tesla will expand faster than Waymo tho (Score:2)
Tesla plans to expand its robotaxi service to 8 to 10 major U.S. cities by the end of 2025, targeting areas like Florida, Nevada, and Arizona for the initial rollout. The service will go driverless in Austin by the end of the year, and the company is seeking approval to serve California airports. Tesla is also seeking local job candidates for its vehicle data collection team in cities like Aurora, Colorado. [1]https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=tesla+robotaxi+expansion+plan
Re: Did anyone in these cities (Score:2)
I'm looking forward to this. I prefer not to have some strange human in the car with me. And once you remove the tip, Waymo is about same price as Uber.
Long term, I also support the idea of getting rid of human drivers who cost way too much money.
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> ask for this?
Yeah.
The ones profiting from it.
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I'm sure they did a market study and there'll be people ordering them just like in other cities .. so yes.
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Yep, me. I'd rather ride in a Waymo than with most taxi or Uber drivers. Better yet, when the roads are filled with robotaxis, I'm anticipating fewer obscene gestures, fewer honking horns, fewer people cutting me off, and generally, fewer accidents. So yes, I wish I were in one of those cities.
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No, but those cities are at least car centric, so it'll be less of a problem.
Waymo's cars were infamous in SF, which is mixed use for the most part. In one notorious incident, it drove through a street party only for the people who had been having a great time until Waymo's fucked up car decided to plow through it promptly smashed the car to pieces. The people who design these things are unable to comprehend the concept of cities and communities not built exclusively around cars.
The three cities mentioned a