New Yorkers will soon be able to yell 'I'm walkin here!' to Waymo robotaxis Waymo robotaxis are set to return to the streets of New York City after a four-year absence. But with a list of caveats longer than a Midtown bagel shop brunch line, Waymo's return isn't something for pedestrians to get nervous about yet. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday that the NYC Department of …
Taxi: Get in the car.
You: I'm walking.
Taxi: It has been determined that you are 25% likely to jaywalk within the next 10 minutes. Get in the car.
You: I'm walking.
Taxi: It's 1 degree below freezing. It's not good for your health. You might slip on ice. Get in the car.
You: I'm walking.
Taxi: There are looters within 3 miles of here, 1 homeless person within 1 mile, and you have walked more than the recommended exercise limits for New Yorkers of your age group, which is highly suspicious, Mister Gorsky of Apartment 27, Grungeway Heights. Yes, we know all about you. Get in the car or this vehicle will enforce City Ordinance 175825 which means we start to get mean.
Waymo has their work cut out for them if they hope to emulate the authentic New York taxi experience: exotic odors and incomprehensible gibberish emanating from your average NYC hack driver combined with faulty meters and padding several extra miles to your destination. Good luck boys.
Aren't all those easily achieved by adding AI slop?
Well part from the oder, but maybe there will be a new ChatGPT model for that soon.
The only ones who'll "I'm walkin', here!" are the midtown Manhattan tourists who don't know any better than to contactless $20 away to yet another unnecessary branded cab company that have been the root cause of a 200% increase in traffic volume over the past decade rather than walk the four blocks from Times Square to their hotel in the first place.
Oh, and you can bet there'll be bubkis outer-borough service - tourist-town only.
(read: Waymo wouldn't dare drive New Yorkers to or from where New Yorkers actually live - just like Real New York City Taxis.)
Actually I don’t know this for sure, but I do believe that none of the self driving cars obey voice commands or will respond to any screams, for example. I was working for an outfit trying to make a self-piloted lawn mower, and I pointed out it had no scream detector.
“Well no, why would anybody have that?”
Well yes, for sure, no autonomous apparatus should ever have hearing, I fully agree (I don’t agree). But maybe they could have a scream detector?
Let’s suppose you see a lion sleeping in the Savannah. If you sneak up on it, don’t you think it might respond if you suddenly screamed at it? Yet roomba has no detector, nor waymo, nor ANY blender ever made. It makes no difference to the smoke detector who’s yelling it’ll never shut up.
(I’m also one of the few individuals who washes toothbrushes in the dishwasher, even though I recognize FULL WELL that toothbrushes were never meant to be sanitary instruments, but where’s the harm? My dentist treats me as 1 step removed from being a full-on criminal, but I consider it a form of personal expression!)
