[opdahl]

Going to be very interesting to see how the Japanese people react to this. The service the taxi drivers provide when you take the taxi in Japan is on another level, such as waiting for you with the open door and closing the door for you as you enter. A driverless car will never be able to copy that. Japan also has very good public transportation reducing the need for a car for day to day travel so cost might be less of a factor.

[pests]

> waiting for you with the open door and closing the door for you as you enter

I know you meant more than this, but I'm sure automating opening and closing the doors will be a lesser challenge then developing autonomous self driving?

[bluepizza]

Taxi doors already automatically open and close in major Japanese metro areas.

There is a certain romance around good service, but the good service is not the reason why people use taxis here.

One could make a similar argument that self service restaurants serving revolving sushi, or tablet ordered sushi miss the good service of a great restaurant. Yet these places are wildly popular, because one goes there to eat.

[numpad0]

Old Japanese sedan style taxis universally had a handbrake-like lever around front driver side door sill that opens rear passenger side door through a mechanical linkage.

Toyota JPN Taxi[1] replaced most sedan cabs, and it has electric sliding doors which is nicer than swing-out doors. Already opens and closes with electronic commands from driver seat. No big deal.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_JPN_Taxi

[ChumpGPT]

Taxis in Tokyo already have automated doors. The Toyota Crown's rear doors can open and close without the Cab driver getting out.

[ijustlovemath]

I don't think that would elicit the same feeling as a driver doing it

[jdeibele]

What I've read is that some/most taxis in Japan have an automatic back door for the passenger. https://musa4trip.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/taxis-in-japan-do...

Searching, I see references to automatic doors preventing robberies but no explanations as to how that would be. Perhaps the barriers between the back seat passengers and driver prevent knife threats? I wouldn't expect robbers in Japan to have guns, like they would in the US.

Oh, maybe you mean the automatic doors are "waiting for you with the open door"? A lot of cars have hatchbacks that close using a remote, either on the dash or on a fob. It was big news that people were demonstrating the CyberTruck cutting carrots or hot dogs because people are used to hatchbacks closing and opening safely. It seems a lot simpler to automate doors opening and closing safely than autonomously driving in Tokyo.

[skhr0680]

It’s for liability reasons. The driver is responsible for any damage caused to property or vehicles by passengers opening their door

[numpad0]

The classic implementation used mechanical link rods, which no one knew how to operate against driver's will. So there used to be occasional comedic stories around that, like attempted free rider taken to police or man fleeing scene tripping on the door.

[fldskfjdslkfj]

Japan loves its robots, i'm expecting they'll love these robots.

[dzhiurgis]

Plenty of cars with electric doors, including Tesla.

But true, even Uber is kinda flash with driver wearing white gloves.

[alwayslikethis]

> such as waiting for you with the open door and closing the door for you as you enter

Most taxis in Japan have driver-controlled doors. The driver doesn't have to get off the seat at all. Given it is already automated, it is trivial for a driverless car to do.

[zombiwoof]

I agree on the taxi experience being next level. I just wonder how the aging population will replace them. Have you ever seen a 20 something cab driver in Japan? I been many times and never have so wonder if there is a job shortage coming

[Aeolun]

Means it’ll eventually get more expensive no?

[sedatk]

Eh, spent two weeks in Japan in mainly Tokyo and Kyoto a couple weeks ago, and I can safely say that the quality of taxi service varies a lot. Fantastic ride from and to the airport with the driver handling all our luggages. But, taxi drivers who didn't speak English and who couldn't read romanized addresses were common. It was a problem because Google Maps defaulted to romanized addresses on our phones due to our phone language being English.

A taxi we called up using Uber (Uber can only call taxis in Japan) even delayed cancelling our ride passive-aggressively long enough that we missed other rides and lost a lot of time.

My friends had even met with a rude taxi driver (I know impossible, in Japan, right?) that refused to take them to a place that he deemed too close in Kyoto.

We also had numerous great experiences with taxis too: accomodating our stops, having lovely conversations, giving out touristic information and they tried really hard to go accross the language barrier. Great people overall. But, having said that, as a tourist, I'd take a Waymo any day over a taxi in Japan just because I think it would be less friction for me.

[RavlaAlvar]

It is unbelievably expensive though, a 40 minute ride from Osaka city to KIX airport could cost you 30k yen.

[Aeolun]

I did a hours ride from my home to the airport for 10k. How do you get to 30k?

[seanmcdirmid]

Last time I took a cab in Japan the driver pushed a button to open the door and pressed a button to close it. It was surreal actually.

[xarope]

also, wearing white gloves, and actually helping you with luggage

[bamboozled]

Look, there is a lot of profit on the table. None of the employment or societal concern matter at all.