[troupo]

> What it isn't is fundamentally true or revealing.

Well, they are not a solution to transport problems, or to traffic jams.

Yes, they can be complementary to other types of transportation. Yes, companies will enshittify them beyond measure if/when they reach a certain proportion of cars.

> It's recognising that humans have diverse and varying needs for interaction and privacy.

No. I don't think this was even uttered by any of these companies.

Waymo claims to be committed to safety: https://waymo.com/about/

Tesla: stress and safety https://www.tesla.com/fsd

Zoox: purpose-built taxi shaping the future of transportation https://zoox.com/about

[JumpCrisscross]

> they are not a solution to transport problems, or to traffic jams

Nor to world hunger.

> companies will enshittify them beyond measure

A hypothetical applicable to every mode of transit, private and public.

> don't think this was even uttered by any of these companies

Things can be true without being in a corporate press release. (Also, you're the one who originally argued these services' "entire social context is 'never encounter another human as you go from A to B'." If not being in a press release is an argument against one, it 's an argument against the other.)

Though, in this case, it has been said: "Waymo gives you your own personal space to focus on more meaningful things" [1].

[1] https://waymo.com/rides/

[troupo]

> Nor to world hunger.

Ah, the good old ad absurdum.

These companies literally hail themselves as "future of transportation".

> A hypothetical applicable to every mode of transit, private and public.

These are private companies looking for profit. These are not hypotheticals given what is happening to other cars and car manufacturers.

> Also, you're the one who originally argued these services' "entire social context is 'never encounter another human as you go from A to B'."

These are literally robo taxis. A taxi is literally a car that is taking you from A to B. And they are also removing the driver from them. Oh, and don't forget the existing of things like Boring Co. which exists almost solely to undermine public transport.

Their intended future is nothing but endless roads with isolated vehicles going from A to B. There's no other "social context".