I live very close to LAX, and we have hundreds of Waymos in our area. At first i was a little weary, and kinda weirded out by all of them.
They have become completely normal, and cause WAY fewer traffic incidents than human drivers. They are very predictable, and will always let you pull in front of them when changing lanes (unlike a lot of other LA drivers).
I have seen a few incidents where they seem 'stuck', and it was a bit annoying and kind of funny, but again, it does not happen nearly as often as for human drivers.
I also like taking them. It is nice to just get in and relax and not have to talk to anyone or worry about who is going to pick you up. You can control the temperature and music from your phone, you can drop the pin exactly where you want to be dropped off and picked up, and the ride is smooth and comfortable.
We can debate all the knock on effects of Waymos, but the user experience is pretty great.
arjie 7 minutes ago [-]
Surprisingly low hype for a company running perhaps the most advanced consumer-interactive robots. I’m quite fond of these machines and will periodically rescue them when someone has misused them (door not closed, most commonly). Hope they do well. Very good road participants.
cyanregiment 3 minutes ago [-]
Your brown nosing is not going to save you in the AI apocalypse.
Lord Waymo (His Graciousness, Blessed Be His Name) will deal with you like the rest of us
6th gear? More like 6th tear because of how much we'll be crying when AI does get us.
6th fear because of how scared you'll be
hmokiguess 21 minutes ago [-]
Missed opportunity to say "Open to Y'all"
BugsJustFindMe 18 minutes ago [-]
"Open to All Y'all"
raddan 12 minutes ago [-]
Isn't there supposed to be a liaison in there? "Open to Alls Y'all"
I doubt the geofence exclusion is because of the demographics of those areas and not the demand for autonomous vehicles in those areas, although I don't doubt the latter is a result of the former.
smt88 11 minutes ago [-]
I doubt this is correct. “It’s expensive to be poor” — a lot of people who can’t afford cars (or have bad credit) end up Ubering to/from work every day
quxbar 40 minutes ago [-]
Here in Austin, I'm stuck calling an uber and hoping I get a Waymo. When does that deal expire?
It is so so so so so so bad to have to risk an uber every time I want to hire a Waymo.
Cider9986 11 minutes ago [-]
It does seem necessary to have cameras inside driverless cars but I don't want to if Google is running the show. Your biometrics will probably be stored for "enforcing Google's policies" at a minimum [1].
And then a Waymo dropped teenagers off at the police? I don't care if that was a human, I don't want no snitch car service [2].
Is that seriously the demonym? Terrible. Try harder, Dallasites.
adrianmonk 1 minutes ago [-]
What's your better suggestion? Dallasonian? Dallaser? Dallasan?
Also, do you have the same issue with the demonyms Manhattanite or Seattleite?
ndm000 27 minutes ago [-]
Having grown up in Dallas, I usually just say "Texan" and call it a day.
dgunay 21 minutes ago [-]
It sounds too much like "parasite" for me to be comfortable using it. I'm assuming some random person made it up. It's okay to just say "people of/from <place>", guys.
raddan 10 minutes ago [-]
But then you lose extra important information from words like "masshole."
gumby271 9 minutes ago [-]
Dallmatians
chasd00 12 minutes ago [-]
better than "cityofhate" which is what we're called most of the time.
triceratops 8 minutes ago [-]
Understandable, I'd also hate to live in Dallas /s
seizethecheese 35 minutes ago [-]
Texas -> Texan
Kansas - Kansan
Honduras -> Honduran
It should be Dallan?
mchusma 39 minutes ago [-]
I thought it was a typo, or strange url at first.
bijowo1676 25 minutes ago [-]
I like North Texans
gryfft 39 minutes ago [-]
Dallasians?
Dallasers?
Dallaslets?
Dallards?
CalRobert 37 minutes ago [-]
Dalwegians?
dyauspitr 14 minutes ago [-]
Dallamites, Dallsatians
JacobAsmuth 35 minutes ago [-]
Dallonians
Sheeny96 16 minutes ago [-]
Why are the cars so big? Wouldn't it make sense to have a bunch of much smaller, single person vehicles?
cortesoft 10 minutes ago [-]
Why would it make more sense? It isn't like a car half the size would cost half as much, but it would severely limit the capacity. Now, you can get a waymo for 1-4 people, but if some (or all) were single occupant, you would be limited.
Being smaller does not help that much much in cost per mile, but has a big cost for functionality.
jwpapi 12 minutes ago [-]
I’m thinking that since 2015. Like BMW C1 just with doors on the side and a bit more security. This would approx allow 3-4x as many travellers on a given route compared to traditional cars.
grim_io 5 minutes ago [-]
A C1 with more security, meaning more material and air between you and a potential high-speed obstacle, is called a car and is sized like one.
smt88 9 minutes ago [-]
SFC costs don’t scale linearly with volume or number of seats.
The cameras, LIDAR, and sensors are all fixed costs. You need them on even a single-person car. And they’re extremely costly.
pton_xd 3 minutes ago [-]
I've seen them do some pretty questionable maneuvers, like turning right on red into oncoming traffic turning left.
... however, this is far less questionable than the average Dallas driver.
rawgabbit 53 minutes ago [-]
No freeways. But Waymo now is available to all of Dallas?
Does that include the suburbs?
nolastan 44 minutes ago [-]
It's open to _everyone in Dallas_, not available _in all of Dallas_.
ooopsss 13 minutes ago [-]
everyone != everywhere
cco 39 minutes ago [-]
I believe they paused freeways everywhere because they drove through some construction (or didn't handle construction zones well).
looks like Bishop Arts -> Fair Park -> White Rock -> NW Hwy -> Hampton/Inwood, with a weird section jutting out toward Irving along 114
so, no suburbs, only enclaves
elianaive 24 minutes ago [-]
Keeps on being rolled out in red states while being delayed in blue states, quite unfortunate.
runako 11 minutes ago [-]
Divide this differently:
- states where the major cities commonly have snow for > 3 months
- states where the major cities commonly have snow for < 1 month
Inclement weather is likely the differentiator. Blue state California gets Waymo in its biggest cities, which handily do not get much snow. The other Waymo cities are all below the Mason-Dixon Line.
xnx 2 minutes ago [-]
Blocked even from testing in NYC. Blocked from DC. Unfortunately this does have more to do with bad government than bad weather.
warkdarrior 47 seconds ago [-]
They tried to roll out in New York City, but the city did not approve.
It's easier to roll out in places where it seldom snows.
cortesoft 9 minutes ago [-]
They have been fully open here in Los Angeles for almost two years now.
dmitrygr 22 minutes ago [-]
"Maybe it's something you've got that they haven't got." - Owen Kellogg
mrtesthah 24 minutes ago [-]
Is it unfortunate, though?
km3r 21 minutes ago [-]
The anti-science slopulism of the far left is infecting blue states. Hopefully the liberal left can fight back to prevent the party being taken over like maga did to Republicans.
wwalexander 17 minutes ago [-]
What “anti-science slopulism” are you referring to? And what does corporate rollout strategy have to do with science?
It’s an extremely consistent experience, and you can sit in the front seat (something I like personally). With Uber and taxi services, you never know what kind of driver or ride you’re going to get.
ooopsss 9 minutes ago [-]
Uber is at least 1000x better than traditionally taxi, without any rating system.
giancarlostoro 24 minutes ago [-]
The real test is, can these self-driving cars drive I-4 without getting into any sort of wreck?
They have become completely normal, and cause WAY fewer traffic incidents than human drivers. They are very predictable, and will always let you pull in front of them when changing lanes (unlike a lot of other LA drivers).
I have seen a few incidents where they seem 'stuck', and it was a bit annoying and kind of funny, but again, it does not happen nearly as often as for human drivers.
I also like taking them. It is nice to just get in and relax and not have to talk to anyone or worry about who is going to pick you up. You can control the temperature and music from your phone, you can drop the pin exactly where you want to be dropped off and picked up, and the ride is smooth and comfortable.
We can debate all the knock on effects of Waymos, but the user experience is pretty great.
Lord Waymo (His Graciousness, Blessed Be His Name) will deal with you like the rest of us
6th gear? More like 6th tear because of how much we'll be crying when AI does get us.
6th fear because of how scared you'll be
Hmm. Maybe in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris,_Texas?
And then a Waymo dropped teenagers off at the police? I don't care if that was a human, I don't want no snitch car service [2].
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49027861
https://www.404media.co/waymo-called-police-on-teens-san-mat...
Also, do you have the same issue with the demonyms Manhattanite or Seattleite?
It should be Dallan?
Dallards?
Being smaller does not help that much much in cost per mile, but has a big cost for functionality.
The cameras, LIDAR, and sensors are all fixed costs. You need them on even a single-person car. And they’re extremely costly.
... however, this is far less questionable than the average Dallas driver.
Does that include the suburbs?
so, no suburbs, only enclaves
- states where the major cities commonly have snow for > 3 months
- states where the major cities commonly have snow for < 1 month
Inclement weather is likely the differentiator. Blue state California gets Waymo in its biggest cities, which handily do not get much snow. The other Waymo cities are all below the Mason-Dixon Line.
https://www.twu.org/twu-tech-newsletter-waymo-no-mo-in-nyc-f...
People hate human drivers more than they hate the idea of AI drivers
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/business/uber-sexual-assa...
https://www.worldatlas.com/places/the-most-dangerous-highway...