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there is usually a random person sitting in the front seat of these, making sure it doesn't crash, not sure why anyone would want to use that, versus waymo
we have covered robotaxi on SNL, it was actually the first weekend it launched in austin if i remember correctly
i forget what episode that was maybe @wumbo knows
The random person is just a precautionary measure, standard for new autonomous ventures in a given city. They were scheduled to be removed by the end of 2025 but that didn't happen, but they will be gone imminently. The other reason to use Robotaxi over Waymo is cost. It's much cheaper per mile.
-Tom
No, anyone can book a Robotaxi. The dedicated Robotaxi app is available to all to download. Please try it and report back.
-Tom
In Santa Monica, Lyft luxury is the same price as Waymo
California is a failed state
Robotaxi is cheaper by quite a bit. If you dig around on YouTube you'll find people running these comparisons.
-Tom
I'm not so interested in Waymo since they will have a tough time scaling due to the high cost of their vehicles and tech stack. The speakers in the video seem unaware of how much cheaper the Robotaxi network is than Uber or Waymo – possibly simply because at the time of the recording the Robotaxi hadn't launched in Austin yet. But now that it's been operational since the summer I'd be surprised if nobody here has tried it out yet. The app is available to all.
-Tom