[mustacheemperor]

I really hope Waymo succeeds, or at the very least survives in its current markets. It is so much more comfortable, convenient, and safe than traditional ride share.

I switched to more or less only using Waymo for ride-share in SF after I got into the beta last year, and almost without exception every Uber or Lyft ride I have had to take since then for timing, availability, or route reasons has been some kind of debacle. Ranging from just an unclean and odd-smelling car to a ride my partner and I had to end early with the "pull over now" button when the clearly intoxicated driver missed multiple exits and slid on and off the highway median figuring out what to do.

By the way, that driver was a "Platinum" tier driver per the Uber app. I reported what happened in detail in a message to support, specifically using the safety issue area of the app, and got back an automated message explaining to me that my credit card charge differed from the amount shown onscreen because the ride ended early. I have previously ranted at length on HN about the nasty dark patterns Lyft uses to attempt to trick you into using their "priority pickup", which is always slower than promised and condescends to you with fake "just a few more seconds" messages while it waits for a driver. Recently, my Uber app has begun auto-selecting Black cars for no conceivable reason, except that it does this after 10pm on the weekends when it's more likely I'm in a rush and/or sleepy and/or intoxicated.

The user experience of Uber and Lyft has gotten so poor it feels like outright hostility from these apps towards the users. I've certainly had multiple drivers who behaved outright hostile to their customers. By comparison, the Waymo experience is perfect.

[solardev]

How is it so bad for you? I've had 500+ Lyft rides over 7+ years and never had an issue with a single driver...?

[mustacheemperor]

The jarringly bad nature of my recent experiences with Lyft/Uber compared to Waymo has likely inspired some hyberpole, but - I have been an Uber and Lyft rider for almost 10 years myself. Back then I was at town meetings in Syracuse, NY advocating for Uber to come to town. I know the experience can be good, but it seems like over the last couple years the experience has gotten considerably worse on average.

Experiencing Waymo has also altered my standards. Now I really notice how often the car is dirty and unkempt, stinks of pot or cigarette smoke, or the tire light is on, or the driver is handling the car poorly. Waymo is usually the same price, and none of that ever happens. If they pull this off I don't see the business model for human based rideshare surviving unless the cost of AV rides skyrockets once they need to be independently commercially viable.

I also live right off the highway, so I think I am more prone to getting people who pick up my ride on the way to or from somewhere else and then get upset about where they have to go. Pretty much the only place I need an Uber to these days is over the bridge to the East Bay when BART is not realistic, which is usually because I'm in a rush. One of my recent trips I wound up late anyway, because the first driver who pulled into my complex explained to me "because the uber app gives me these bad rides" I should cancel the ride for him, and pay a fee, because it was so unreasonable for me to expect him to deliver me to the destination I had called the ride for.

Edit: on another bridge trip, my driver was excited to show me his 'tiktok famous' friend on his dash mounted iPad while we went over the bridge. Diamond driver, perfect rating, surfing social media with one hand and steering with the other. Maybe Waymo has just made me picky and most rideshare users now expect to share use of an iPad with the driver in traffic

[resolutebat]

I'm afraid any cleanliness advantage is temporary. People are filthy enough in cars driven by actual humans, can you imagine what they'll get up to when there's nobody at the wheel?

[mustacheemperor]

Yeah, I'm sure some of the experience quality is because the only other riders are people Waymo selected for the beta, and nobody wants to get kicked out for misbehavior. We've joked a few times "don't forget that water bottle, I don't wanna get banned!"

On the other hand though, I have seen misplaced items in Waymos a couple times and when I reported them in the app they pulled the car for cleaning ASAP. I actually did leave a water bottle once - a disposable, single use one - and they emailed me asking me if I wanted them to return it! That kind of vehicle management feels more like a benefit inherent to centralized taxi fleets than a benefit inherent to AVs, but it's something Waymo can take advantage of. I would guess the in-car cameras would be capable of detecting vomit-related events etc too.

[solardev]

> I would guess the in-car cameras

I didn't know they had those. Wonder if they'll eventually add a mode where you could opt-in to livestream games like Cash Cab or Carpool Karaoke. Would make the commutes more interesting :D

[solardev]

Those do sound like terrible experiences. Maybe I've just been really lucky.