[minwcnt5]

San Francisco. I do walk and take transit all the time, but I'm a man. My wife has been chased by mentally ill people bin broad daylight. The risk to me is low, but I still make sure I'm aware of my surroundings.

I don't think this is unique to SF. Even in very safe cities there's surely a higher chance of being mugged walking down a dark street than riding in a 5000 lbs vehicle with tinted windows.

[yowzadave]

> there's surely a higher chance of being mugged walking down a dark street than riding in a 5000 lbs vehicle with tinted windows

Please account for the danger of being struck by other people riding in 5000 lb vehicles with tinted windows!

[xnx]

Much better to be inside of a protective steel cage if there's a chance of getting hit by a 5000 lb vehicle.

[consteval]

I think in the long-run robotaxis are crime heaven. It's so easy to mug people in a robotaxi, especially when they're used like autonomous busses. Public transit is largely safe because you're in public. As soon as you put people, strangers, in a private little box with no accountability all bets are off.

I think they seem good now because you're not riding with randos. Although, randos can still trivially stop the car. But this model is unsustainable, eventually you will be riding with randos.

[krashidov]

All of over the world there are subway cars where there are randos in the subway car with no security guard or driver. Essentially an autonomous "bus" scenario. Basically the exact same scenario you're describing. But it's not that dangerous

[consteval]

Those work because there's more people. It's hard to coordinate, say, 20 people to rob you (one guy).

If you ride the subway at night, with almost nobody on it, you get the same effect.

[krashidov]

So let me get this straight. Once there are lots of people it's more dangerous, but once there are no people it's simultaneously more dangerous? I'm not following the logic here

[s1artibartfast]

They are saying there is safety in crowds.

>It's hard to coordinate, say, 20 people to rob you (one guy).

[krashidov]

> But this model is unsustainable, eventually you will be riding with randos.

It's unsafe when there's lots of people, it's unsafe when there's no people. Basically they're saying it's unsafe no matter what, which just isn't true. Subway systems are an everyday part of life in many cities.

[simonw]

I imagine "eventually you will be riding with randos" is more likely to work like Uber and Lyft right now, where you can get a discount if you accept a "shared" ride or pay full price for a car that's just you.

It might also be that Waymo and co have decided that the additional risk involved in putting strangers in a car together without a driver to keep an eye on them isn't worth taking on.

[consteval]

IMO Uber and Lyft are already unsustainable, and our current transportation infrastructure has been falling rapidly behind for a couple decades. I can't foresee a future where mass transportation is achievable with ANY single person vehicles, including robotaxis.