Not saying this HAS to happen. But I remember when Ubers were clean, quiet, cheap too. I think you are just looking at a product before the enshittification, when they still have to pretend they care about your comfort.

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davidw 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I wonder what the non-subsidized price of a Waymo ride would be.

	▲	whatshisface 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Lower prices for recommended destinations, ads played during trip, LLM engages the customer.
	▲	tonyhart7 44 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		earlier price is steep because they still have huge RnD cost but if we scale that to one planet, it would been cheaper in the long run

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conradev 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You're not allowed to smoke cigarettes in a Waymo, whereas UberX drivers are allowed to, I believe, off the clock.

I do worry in general about what the enshittification of Waymo will look like, though.

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Rodeoclash 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It will undoubtedly get enshittifed in its own way, probably higher prices, but at least it will be reliable when booked. Ubers seem to be a crap shoot these days if they're actually going to come and get you.

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Analemma_ 30 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I can't guarantee that Waymo won't be enshittified, but one fundamental difference with Uber is that Waymo doesn't need to compete in the labor market for drivers. When the low end of the labor market got red hot in 2023-24, that's when Uber prices climbed rapidly because drivers had other options; Waymo won't have this problem. It won't be affected by other things like ever-rising health care costs or local regulations guaranteeing driver wage floors either.

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virtue3 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

the same exact problems we had with Taxis. Sigh.

	▲	foooorsyth 13 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Had so many Boston cabs not show up for rides to the airport growing up. Uber was such a breath of fresh air…until it wasn’t anymore.

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sneak 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Uber, when it was launched, was limos only, and would come (with ETA) when cabs would not. It was expensive.

The story they told is that they were unable to get a ride. That’s not enshittification, that’s simply scammers on the platform not doing their job.

That won’t happen with robots.

They might raise the prices, or clean the cars less frequently, but if it shows up and runs the program, it won’t ever get worse than that.

	▲	astrange 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Uber still is like that if you choose that option. It just defaults to UberX because that's cheaper. I dunno, I've never been in a dirty Uber/Lyft. But yes, I originally switched to them because Bay Area cabs just will not pick you up if they don't feel like it.
	▲	explodes 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		In-Ride Ads coming soon to a car ride near you