What amazes me about Waymo is how expensive the rides are. They're at least 20% more expensive than Uber (the much more expensive Uber of today, not the Uber of 2-4 years ago), sometimes 100-150% more expensive.
If they can't be cheaper, then what's the point?
Having ridden a few of them in the area, I think they're worth it.
Waymos are 100% reliable. If you book it and it says it's coming at X time, it will definitely actually show up at X time. No more of, driver cancelled at the last minute because they don't actually want to drive to destination Y but Uber etc gave it to them anyways and they get dinged if they just cancel instead of claiming not to be able to find the rider etc. Or driver got lost or stopped for food or gas or something so is late.
It also gets to the destination exactly when it says it will. No weird routes because of the driver's whim or driving too fast or too slow. And no chance of bad music, loud conversation in some foreign language, annoying commentary, etc.
And I want them to be profitable to run too, so they have plenty of incentive to expand the program.
> Waymos are 100% reliable.
There is nothing in this world that is 100% reliable. The vehicles are new. Wait until they start clocking more miles.
> it will definitely actually show up at X time.
In what city and at what time of day? Waymo is just one vehicle in a sea of them. If traffic starts choking the city I don't see how they're not as vulnerable as every other vehicle.
> And no chance of....loud conversation in some foreign language,
Ah!
the jaguar ipace base vehicle is uber black eligible in some markets, compared to the shitty check engine light hoopties you could risk with uberx
No need to make small-talk with someone is a positive for many people. That might make it worth it?
The novelty premium?
There are people that will wait for a self-checkout kiosk to be available instead of going to a cashier. There are definitely people that will pay for a solo car ride.