I don't know where I stand on Waymo, but I do know that it is a delight to read such a well informed, informative and well reasoned piece about self-driving cars in Oregon. Oregon's newspaper of record could learn a lesson or two from this.
With full disclosure, I have tried Waymo once in SF when I needed to get somewhere late at night and it was going to be a while waiting for Uber or MUNI. I loved it!
What convinced me was a friend with a female teenager who said if her daughter was stuck somewhere and she couldn’t get to her she would call her a Waymo long before a rideshare.
What bothers me about the resistance to it is that people are expressing concern about Waymos not following the rules of the road. I don’t drive a lot but when I do I see people disregarding red lights on a daily basis. Not even turning red - completely red. We all read about hit-and-runs. And we all know that there isn’t enough of a budget for traffic enforcement. Guaranteed that a Waymo will behave a lot more than many other drivers who are used to driving the way they want with no consequences.
Before self-checkouts appeared in grocery stores there was the same pushback about a loss of jobs and how it would eliminate the need for cashiers. Perhaps I am simple-minded about this but I don’t see that the concerns came to fruition. So automated cars have the same aspect - it’s an option that people aren’t forced to take.
Waymo won’t drive on highways so I still will use Uber/Lyft for airport runs, which really is the main times I use it.
I have taken it before but with the closest stop being Old Town and traveling with a bigger bag and/or at odd hours unfortunately does not feel like the safest decision for myself.
It’s a bummer as I love to use public transport to/from airports, though experiencing fent smoking on BART coming from SFO made me decide that is a no there too.
Thank you for an intelligent article on the coming AVs. I use TriMet for most of my urban travel, and Lyft when my disabled husband needs to get around. And I walk a lot. But I’m ready to jump in an AV when they are available. Yes, let’s write some rules that allow ticketing for traffic infractions. I hope the AVs won’t park in the streetcar lane!
One hates to agree with Morillo on anything, but people who drive for Lyft/Uber will be affected. Mr. Zmuda neatly sidesteps this and buries us in typical technocratic detail. But drivers for these companies are, in many cases, newcomers and immigrants--darlings of the far left. And Uber drivers are trying to unionize--another big deal with socialists (who, of course, want to ultimately socialize the unions, along with everything and everyone else).
Then there's our Trimet, another failing socialist institution, which is doing its best, aided by PBOT, to herd us into buses...where we'll meet our "neighbors," who may have various mental issues.
Waymo will have a tough time on our narrow, horse-n-buggy streets, particularly on the east side. One wonders how it will be programmed to contend with the weird courtesy of "no, you first" drivers who totally disregard rules of the road and replace them with frantic flapping hand-gestures.
Thank you, Matt, for this thoughtful piece. As of April, Councilor Morillo will no longer be on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (new name: Public Works). The Committee Vice-Chair will be Councilor Loretta Smith with the addition of Councilor Sameer Kanal to the committee. I will definitely put the topic back on the Committee agenda for further work as well as on our City’s 2027 State Legislative agenda to stop pre-emption. BTW, at a Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting last night, the MultCoNoMo came up for some brief discussion. I greatly appreciate your efforts to take another run at the consolidation effort!
Wait
Oh hell no!
I don't know where I stand on Waymo, but I do know that it is a delight to read such a well informed, informative and well reasoned piece about self-driving cars in Oregon. Oregon's newspaper of record could learn a lesson or two from this.
With full disclosure, I have tried Waymo once in SF when I needed to get somewhere late at night and it was going to be a while waiting for Uber or MUNI. I loved it!
What convinced me was a friend with a female teenager who said if her daughter was stuck somewhere and she couldn’t get to her she would call her a Waymo long before a rideshare.
What bothers me about the resistance to it is that people are expressing concern about Waymos not following the rules of the road. I don’t drive a lot but when I do I see people disregarding red lights on a daily basis. Not even turning red - completely red. We all read about hit-and-runs. And we all know that there isn’t enough of a budget for traffic enforcement. Guaranteed that a Waymo will behave a lot more than many other drivers who are used to driving the way they want with no consequences.
Before self-checkouts appeared in grocery stores there was the same pushback about a loss of jobs and how it would eliminate the need for cashiers. Perhaps I am simple-minded about this but I don’t see that the concerns came to fruition. So automated cars have the same aspect - it’s an option that people aren’t forced to take.
Waymo won’t drive on highways so I still will use Uber/Lyft for airport runs, which really is the main times I use it.
Thanks for coming to my pro-Waymo TED talk.
Have you considered the Red Line to the airport?
I have taken it before but with the closest stop being Old Town and traveling with a bigger bag and/or at odd hours unfortunately does not feel like the safest decision for myself.
It’s a bummer as I love to use public transport to/from airports, though experiencing fent smoking on BART coming from SFO made me decide that is a no there too.
The sooner the better. If Morillo is opposed I add an explanation point - The sooner the better!
Thank you for an intelligent article on the coming AVs. I use TriMet for most of my urban travel, and Lyft when my disabled husband needs to get around. And I walk a lot. But I’m ready to jump in an AV when they are available. Yes, let’s write some rules that allow ticketing for traffic infractions. I hope the AVs won’t park in the streetcar lane!
Despite the rosy optimism from techies and car companies, the technology isn't there yet.
One hates to agree with Morillo on anything, but people who drive for Lyft/Uber will be affected. Mr. Zmuda neatly sidesteps this and buries us in typical technocratic detail. But drivers for these companies are, in many cases, newcomers and immigrants--darlings of the far left. And Uber drivers are trying to unionize--another big deal with socialists (who, of course, want to ultimately socialize the unions, along with everything and everyone else).
Then there's our Trimet, another failing socialist institution, which is doing its best, aided by PBOT, to herd us into buses...where we'll meet our "neighbors," who may have various mental issues.
Waymo will have a tough time on our narrow, horse-n-buggy streets, particularly on the east side. One wonders how it will be programmed to contend with the weird courtesy of "no, you first" drivers who totally disregard rules of the road and replace them with frantic flapping hand-gestures.
Thank you, Matt, for this thoughtful piece. As of April, Councilor Morillo will no longer be on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (new name: Public Works). The Committee Vice-Chair will be Councilor Loretta Smith with the addition of Councilor Sameer Kanal to the committee. I will definitely put the topic back on the Committee agenda for further work as well as on our City’s 2027 State Legislative agenda to stop pre-emption. BTW, at a Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting last night, the MultCoNoMo came up for some brief discussion. I greatly appreciate your efforts to take another run at the consolidation effort!