The DashMart focus for this pilot is smart - groceries and convenience items have more forgiving delivery windows than hot food, which buys time for customers to retrieve from the trunk. Your observation about the $75k vehicle weight vs. delivery economics is interesting, but I wonder if the real value prop is operational learaning at scale. Each delivery teaches the Waymo Driver about different pickup/drop-off scenarios in a lower-stakes environment than passenger transport. Plus, as you mentioned, off-peak utilization could meaningfully improve the unit economics of these expensive assets. The London expansion shows they're confident in the tech, but I agree labor pushback will be significant there.
Thanks for writing this, it clarifies a lot. I'm wonderin if the increased utilization for a 5,000-pound vehicle truly offsets its ecological footpritn for small deliveries. Food for thought.
"In theory, combining food delivery and rideshare has always sounded great, but in reality, there are a lot of issues. Lunch is really the only peak food delivery time where rideshare demand is low, and food tends to stink up your car." - very famous words
The DashMart focus for this pilot is smart - groceries and convenience items have more forgiving delivery windows than hot food, which buys time for customers to retrieve from the trunk. Your observation about the $75k vehicle weight vs. delivery economics is interesting, but I wonder if the real value prop is operational learaning at scale. Each delivery teaches the Waymo Driver about different pickup/drop-off scenarios in a lower-stakes environment than passenger transport. Plus, as you mentioned, off-peak utilization could meaningfully improve the unit economics of these expensive assets. The London expansion shows they're confident in the tech, but I agree labor pushback will be significant there.
Thanks for writing this, it clarifies a lot. I'm wonderin if the increased utilization for a 5,000-pound vehicle truly offsets its ecological footpritn for small deliveries. Food for thought.
Fair. without the tip, the delivery fee may essentially just be covering the cost of operation so may not even be worth it as you point out.
A second tweet-pair from In Practise: https://x.com/_inpractise/status/1977689927245574631
thanks, I think the first tweet is rather obvious. But disagree with the second one.
https://x.com/therideshareguy/status/1979607717322088456?s=46
Thanks for the mention! I think I am the first person who lives in Ohio to ride in an AV (June 2024).
"In theory, combining food delivery and rideshare has always sounded great, but in reality, there are a lot of issues. Lunch is really the only peak food delivery time where rideshare demand is low, and food tends to stink up your car." - very famous words