When the first major bloodbath happens with a driverless car, I wonder what the expected market valuation of Waymo will be.
Posted on 12/05/2018 9:39:40 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
Waymo on Wednesday launched a commercial robot ride-hailing service in Arizona called Waymo One.
Like Uber or Lyft, customers will summon a ride with a smartphone app. But in this case, the car will be driving itself.
Only “a few hundred customers” will have access to the app and participate in the early stages. Although the cars will drive themselves, a Waymo engineer will sit behind the wheel in case anything goes wrong. Waymo did not say when the cars will start arriving without a human minder or when the program will be expanded.
Waymo’s cars, Chrysler Pacifica minivans bristling with autonomous driving technology, are available in several eastern and southeastern Phoenix suburbs, including Chandler, Tempe, Mesa and Gilbert. The fares are similar to those charged by Uber and Lyft.
Waymo has ferried Phoenix-area passengers in robot cars since April 2017 in what the company calls its Early Rider program. Unlike Early Rider — which Waymo will continue — Waymo One customers won’t be required to sign nondisclosure agreements and won’t be expected to continually provide feedback about their experience.
Waymo One represents the beginnings of a business that could be worth a lot of money. How much, no one yet knows: Wall Street estimates of Waymo’s market value, should it be spun off, range from $50 billion to $175 billion.
The Phoenix area was chosen for its friendliness to driverless cars (Regulations on driverless cars are less stringent in Arizona than in California.) The flat, snow-free desert terrain, the well-kept and well-marked roads, the scarcity of trees to block street signs, and sun-blasted sidewalks on which few pedestrians tread all lend themselves to early robot car deployment.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
When the first major bloodbath happens with a driverless car, I wonder what the expected market valuation of Waymo will be.
I was seeing non-Pacifica versions of Waymo vehicles in Mesa. Now that we are near Glendale, where driving is more hazardous, not so much.
Awaiting the first death......
I'm a cynic. Litigation and liability are used by government to speed the elimination of industries and companies that do not fit social-engineering plans and are also financially ripe for harvesting by politicians, ie) tobacco, guns, certain drugs, chemicals etc... Or, of course, liability applies to small companies.
New economy-wide technologies, or politically-connected industries, are given very wide margin for mistakes.
Does it understand Spanish? Does it service the border area?
Glad I don't live or drive in experiment-ville. I'm safe for now at least.
Perhaps the gotcha lights only trip off for human drivers due to professional courtesy amongst the machines.
Goan’ have way mo accidents with these on the road!
LOL...nice!
When the first major bloodbath happens with a driverless car, I wonder what the expected market valuation of Waymo will be.
...
Almost 40,000 people die in traffic accidents in the United States every year. Do you mean that kind of bloodbath?
Goan’ have way mo accidents with these on the road!
...
They’ve already driven millions of miles in the Phoenix area for nonpaying passengers.
Lawyers can’t wait to feast (eat them alive!) on the owners of these self driving car services. Give WayMo one year. this will be fun to watch.
Nope. The first multi-person fatality in a driverless car will garner more publicity than all 40,000 combined. It’ll be front page news for a week.
And to forestall making whoopee in the mobile boudoir...at least in 2018: Self-driving cars could be the brothels of the future
Per passenger mile, automated cars/trucks will be MUCH safer than human drivers.
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