this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 74 points 2 months ago (4 children)

welcomed Waymo's presence, expecting it to enhance local security and tranquility

what? how could it do anything for “local security and tranquility”?

[–] [email protected] 108 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I didn't really get this either.

I did think the final paragraph was notable, a "zeitgeist of our times" if you will:

The absurdity of the situation prompted tech author and journalist James Vincent to write on X, "current tech trends are resistant to satire precisely because they satirize themselves. a car park of empty cars, honking at one another, nudging back and forth to drop off nobody, is a perfect image of tech serving its own prerogatives rather than humanity’s."

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

a "zeitgeist of our times"

An ATM machine

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Zeitgeist could refer to the past though.

Nirvana was part of the zeitgeist of the 90s.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Re: security: I imagine many women being more comfortable getting a waymo than an Uber/Taxi. It's anecdotal and from a different country, but most of my female family/friends have had an uncomfortable interaction in a taxi, like unrequested sexual advances or things like that.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Would you choose to be driven by waymo, taxi driver, or a bear?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The bear obviously. I need to ask him a few questions.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

“Have you managed to mend the relationship with your cousin yet? And is the restaurant doing alright?”

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I want my Johnny Cab from Total Recall. Tells me “hell of a day! Hah hah!”

Then we get to watch them try to run over people that stiff them in fairs and damage the unit.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm a dude and I still prefer car shares over taxi drivers. Less weed smoke, the driver is not on Tiktok while driving, no erratic driving, and it's cheaper too.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

You: "So, on what social network are you now?"

Driver: "Yes"

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Security, they're covered in cameras, the footage from which can presumably be obtained by law enforcement.

Tranquility, they're presumably electric, so quieter?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

My coworker feels more comfortable cycling around the Waymo’s than human drivers.

As in, they are already more considerate than humans.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

I feel more comfortable walking around them, they never blow stop lights /signs, always go the speed limit, never honk (except when parking I guess) and are very patient. If they see a pedestrian they just stop instead of creeping forward making you question whether to walk in front of them and then getting mad when you won't cross in front of their still moving car like people.