[j_kao]

This will be interesting to see if they can crack LA - drunk and overly aggressive drivers, crack addicts running around the streets, and vandalism.

You can already see this "tragedy of the commons" type of behavior with the unusable public transport system (it's a nightmare to use the trains between Koreatown and DTLA, especially for women) and in the private sector with Lime and Bird scooters.

Very exciting if it works out, but I don't have high hopes.

[dangus]

I’m really disappointed at the kind of generalizations and misconceptions you’re using here to describe a vast and diverse metropolitan area.

You’re essentially blaming “elements of sin:” it’s all about the crackheads and the crazies.

You’re magnifying a very small portion of the population while diminishing and disrespecting the mostly-normal law-abiding citizens who actually live in LA.

You want to know why LA has drunk drivers and scary bad transit? It’s not because of all of the vague sin of the “city problems” you describe.

It’s at least in part because of LA’s unsustainable car-focused development. (In that respect, Waymo might act as a welcome band-aid, but it’s still a band-aid).

Why are there drunk drivers? Because you can’t walk or take a train/bus to the bar.

Why is transit scary? Because only the truly desperate actually use the barely-useful mass transit in LA, because LA was built for cars.

Why are the crackheads out vandalizing stuff? Maybe because car-focused development exacerbates wealth inequality [1] by encouraging the development of socioeconomically segregated communities, and by gating economic opportunity behind the most expensive form of transportation, requiring everyone to buy and maintain personal vehicles at high rates (at least one vehicle per person). Don’t have your own car? Hope someone can drive you to work! Want to interview for that job? It’s far away, hope you can pay for gas! Disabled? Elderly? Guess you’re not going anywhere!

[1] https://inequality.org/research/public-transit-inequality/

[porphyra]

Regarding crack addicts, LA isn't that much worse than SF where they have been testing for a while. Yes, LA is bigger and has more crack addicts, but the density of crack addicts per square kilometer is about the same between the Tenderloin and Skid Row.

Waymo will probably just geofence out the worst areas anyway.

[j_kao]

That's true, there are definitely ways to make this work if we're confining these to very restricted spaces with active monitoring.

I look forward to a future LA where car ownership is optional. There's a lot of aggressive urban planning that needs to happen and implemented for it to work. Downtown Culver City is a good example.

[TigeriusKirk]

Most of Los Angeles is a weird sort of "urban lite" environment. All the problems you describe are much worse in the areas Waymo is already operating in in San Francisco.