Waymo to Tackle Rain and Snow with Seattle and Denver Launches
Avride plans to launch in Dallas on Uber by the end of the year, why Waymo could be a trillion dollar opportunity, and Is NYC ready for robotaxis?
This week’s edition is brought to you by Terawatt – purpose-built charging for autonomous vehicle fleets.
Top Stories of the Week
Waymo starts testing in Denver and Seattle in bid to expand robotaxi service across the U.S. (link). The company will begin with humans behind the wheel, similar to what they’re doing in NYC after recently obtaining a permit there. Waymo’s test fleet in Denver and Seattle will include a mix of Jaguar iPaces with the 5th-generation Waymo Driver and Zeekr RTs with the 6th-generation Waymo driver, and they will have up to a dozen cars each in Denver and Seattle to start testing. One thing I noticed was that there were no partners announced for these two markets like with past launches (Avis in Dallas, Moove in Miami, etc).
Waymo plans on serving riders in Denver next year and it will be their first true cold weather market (average seasonal snowfall of 56”). I also found it interesting that the Zeekrs will be running 6th generation software while the iPaces will be stuck with the 5th. Although, it makes sense that the latest and greatest software may only be compatible with the latest and greatest hardware.
1 Waymo has already shown it can handle rain but I was surprised to see that Seattle has less annual average rainfall (37.13 inches) than several other Waymo cities. Either way, the real story here is that Seattle is a progressive city and one of the few that has enacted strong labor protections for rideshare drivers (NYC would be another one). Here’s what drivers in Seattle are entitled to:
Minimum Pay: Seattle trips pay at least $0.64/min + $1.50/mile (or $5.62 minimum); outside Seattle $0.37/min + $1.27/mile (or $3.26 min.).
Paid Sick Leave: 1 hour earned per 40 hours worked, usable after 90 hours, paid at average hourly rate.
Workers’ Comp: Coverage from dispatch to ride end or cancellation.
Deactivation Protections: Just-cause standard ensures due process before deactivation.
I expect Waymo to face strong push back from labor in Seattle and anecdotally, I’ve noticed that there is a large percentage of full-time immigrant drivers there who are reliant on their driving income, and they won’t be going down without a fight. Drivers are also organized; there is also a local ‘Drivers Union’ that is backed by the Teamsters and clearly they know what they’re doing since they’ve been able to win some of the strongest labor protections for rideshare drivers in the US.
All of those benefits for drivers add up though and have made Seattle the most expensive city in the US to hail a 30 minute Uber ride. And according to Obi’s pricing data, Waymo typically charges 30-40% more than the average Uber ride. But in Seattle, they may not have to, since Uber rides are 50% more expensive than California, yet Waymo’s costs are about the same (if not less since it’s a more mature market). So Waymo will have a lot of margin to play around, they could charge a premium to Uber and turn a nice profit. Or they could match or undercut Uber, and see how much more market share they can gain.
Tesla Robotaxi app opens to the public (link). Downloading and signing up for the app — currently only on iOS — doesn’t give users instant access to robotaxi rides, but it does add them to the waitlist for available rides.
Cool Rides
And today, I'm excited to present my latest trick: Driving a car purely with my mind! I call this trick "Leviosa" – no, even better: "WAYMO". 🧠🚗 (link).
‘This week, I had the opportunity to ride in Zoox’s purpose-built autonomous vehicle in the Bay Area — and what a fascinating experience it was!’ (link).
Ever wondered what it’s like sitting in one of Vay’s Remote Driving Stations? 🕹️🚗 (link).
‘Loving this stealth Waymo look’ (link).
AVs/Humans behaving badly
Weird guy baits Waymo to hit him 🤦♂️ (link), and whatever this is (link).
‘Another Waymo vs SF muni bus incident (link).’
Designing Charging Hubs for Autonomous Fleets
We are excited to partner with Terawatt this month, one of the leading providers of charging infrastructure. To learn more about Terawatt's network of AV charging hubs and track record of 99%+ uptime, reach out to Logan Szidik at lszidik@terawattinfrastructure.com
Other Stuff
Autonomous technology startup Avride to ramp up testing as part of Uber robotaxi rollout (link, no paywall). The company is currently testing in Dallas with ‘vehicle operators’ behind the wheel. And by the end of the year, Avride plans to launch on the Uber platform, with vehicle operators behind the wheel. As the program progresses, they will move to the passenger’s seat, and eventually shift towards fully driverless operation. In the meantime though, the car will be driving autonomously, and the operator will only intervene when it’s needed.
Waymo approved to operate at San José Mineta International Airport (link).
‘Is New York City ready for robotaxis? Waymo and Tesla are gearing up to launch in the nation’s most lucrative ride-hailing market. But with the city’s for-hire fleet already near its pre-pandemic peak of 120,000 vehicles, officials face tough choices. BNEF analysis shows Waymo’s San Francisco rollout has not outperformed Uber or Lyft in terms of deadheading or vehicle occupancy, which raises key questions for NYC’ (link). Good insights here. Based on Waymo ETAs alone, it’s a good bet that their utilization is lower than Uber/Lyft (i.e. 3-5 min ETAs is the number one KPI) and they have more dead-heading. Waymo launched scheduled rides recently to solve the high ETA issue but that actually hurts utilization compared to on demand pick-ups as I wrote about last week.
A sampling of reviews of Waymo’s safety around bicyclists and pedestrians in r/NYCBike, r/MicromobilityNYC, and r/BikingATX (link). This is one area where I’m strongly team Waymo since it’s insanely dangerous to bike around a busy city like LA for fear of getting nailed by a driver on their phone, or in a hurry.
Nuro Co-founder Dave Ferguson on the Nuro-Lucid-Uber Partnership (link).
Waymo, premium rideshares can now drive on the car-free corridor of SF's Market St. for limited service (link).
New Tech Can Change a City. New York Learned That the Hard Way With Uber (link, no paywall). I think it’s important to embrace new technology like Waymo while at the same time thinking about the best ways to address negative externalities like increased congestion, and less jobs for human drivers. I like the idea of taking a small percentage of each Waymo trip and giving it back to improve public transportation and a relief fund for human drivers. I don’t like the idea of punishing Waymo and forcing people to use a certain product.
Tesla self-driving cars are being tested in Boring Co. tunnels in Las Vegas, but full autonomy is still ‘a ways off,’ convention center exec says (link).
Waymo Co-CEO on Where Their Robotaxis are Heading Next | Interview (link). By the end of next year, Waymo will be offering about 1 million rides per week. Here’s a good breakdown of the episode by Ethan McKanna (link).
Autonomous Cars Are Taking My Rides, This Austin Driver Tells All (link). A nice follow-up interview we did over on The Rideshare Guy to last week’s piece about AVs cutting into rideshare driver pay (link).
Waymo Is A Trillion-Dollar Opportunity. Google Just Needs To Seize It (link, no paywall). Nice work by Alan to get some great quotes from all of Waymo’s top executives for this piece. And on one hand, I see Waymo’s point of view. They have no real competition in the US and safety is a top priority, so there’s no need to rush things. But as someone who had a front row seat to Uber’s early growth, part of me thinks they need to pour some gas on the fire and grow. Maybe not at all costs like Uber did, but a lot faster than what they’re currently doing. As regular readers know, I always like to point out that while Waymo’s 250,000 trips per week are impressive, Uber is now doing over 250 million trips per week around the globe2.
Tesla Rolls Out Robotaxi on Austin Freeways With Safety Operator in Driver’s Seat (link).
‘Maybe I could describe my last two weeks in China as a journey into the future. What I saw was incredible’ (link).
Why do Waymos keep loitering in front of my house? (link, no paywall). Most human drivers actually do the wrong thing after a drop-off: they drive away. Now I wouldn’t advise them to stay parked right in front of the drop-off (that’s creepy), but I do tell drivers in my course that they should either move down the block and stay put to conserve gas, or re-position to an area where they will have a higher likelihood of getting a high quality ride (high $$ amount, low ETA). This is exactly what Waymos are doing since they have all the data to know where the ‘hot spots’ for pick-ups are.
In dense areas, there’s often nowhere to legally or safely park, so you have to circle and drive around while waiting for a ride request. And in less dense areas, you park in front of someone’s house or apartment, and wait for a ride :) The problem for Waymo as they scale though is that their cars are visible, and you probably don’t want them hanging around in front of your house. If they drive around, that costs them wear and tear, and adds to congestion. The best solution I can think of would be parking them in private lots, but of course that could cost a lot.
‘Autonomous vehicle crashes in China are covered by a veil of opaqueness, at least for a Western observer (link).’
What else we're reading/listening to
: BCN: Will Waymo Buy Their Way Into NYC, TLC Insurance Rates Set To Increase (link).Car Charts by
: Social Engineering by Car (link).Charging the Fleets of the Future with Neha Palmer (link). My latest podcast episode is with Neha Palmer, CEO and Co-founder of Terawatt, one of the leading providers of charging infrastructure for AV/EV fleets. We discussed Terawatt’s focus on providing AV/EV charging solutions, the unique process and intricacies of building and launching charging sites suitable for AV/EV fleets of varying sizes, and the technical/logistical requirements of these sites. We also talked about their biggest challenges with customers, among many other things.
Neat Jobs
Technical Program Manager, Onboard at Waymo (link) via Katrina Kang.
Recruiting Coordinator (Contract) at Zoox (link) via Melissa M.
Shout-outs
Big thanks to TDD readers David S, Forrest F, and J Mclean for referring new subscribers. If there's someone you think would enjoy TDD, just forward this email to them or use the referral button below.
Until next week.
-Harry
PS - While you’re still here, if you’ve been listening to The Driverless Digest Podcast, would you mind leaving a review on Apple? I need to know if I actually interrupt the guests too much or not 😂
Always an excellent summary of the week's AV news. I look forward to it!