AMA from Waymo self-driving car rider subscribed to service

> Were there any rides in less than ideal conditions (rain, low visibility, night) ? How well did the AV drive under such conditions?

Yes! New Year's Eve, a friend and I went and got dinner and it was raining that night and the roads had a lot of puddles and could have been quite slick as Phoenix roadways are not designed for rain. It managed driving it very well and I'm not sure if it was the Waymo software or the Chrysler Pacifica's software managing the ABS that you could tell engaged at one point.

Edit: I missed your comment about night. I would say a majority of my rides are at night since that is when I run most of my errands (between 9p-12a) and it handles that just fine. I look forward to the day I ride one through a dust storm!

> How far apart are the pickup / drop-off locations?

Does this inhibit the usability of the service overall, in comparison to uber/lyft ?

Generally I can have it pick me up and drop me off right where I need it to be. There are some restrictions for drop off locations, but these are few and far between and typically it is only a 50-100 foot walk. On only two occasions did I have to walk 1000 or so feet and this was more due to there not being a crosswalk nearby.

So far, this has not inhibited the use of the service for me, but there are some locations on the map that I am sure would inhibit the service for a few people. Even then, these are areas where I feel most people would not even notice unless they studied the map like I have.

can you share screenshots of the map?

This screenshot that was shared a month and a half ago is still accurate.

https://twitter.com/binarybits/status/1073325751284453381?s=...

> how long does the car wait for lane changes and left turn compared to the average human driver.

Does the car respond to other cars who are trying to change lanes by activating their blinkers (does the car slow down in response for ex)

Lane changes have improved and I have noticed that if there isn't another car gaining in the lane or one is a short distance away, it changes lanes almost immediately. If there is one behind it, sometimes it takes awhile. I have noticed it will slow down and let the car pass to change lanes. As for left turns, it is pretty quick at doing this - I would say the difference between a human driver and the Waymo is negligible.

It will slow down if it notices another car changing lanes, but I haven't seen it actually slow down for a car like a human might. However, it does have a delay in when it turns the blinker on to change lanes and when it actually executes the lane change, so if a car behind it makes a last second lane change to go around it, it catches onto that.

> Do you have any sense of how much they are growing / scaling?

On day to day driving / riding in the area, the frequency that you pass other Waymos / see other Waymos. Does it seem like it has been stagnant or steadily increasing?

Any sense of if they are adding more people to Waymo One currently? Any sense of how capable they are of adding more?

Based on anecdotal evidence, they seem to be growing, but I do not know this with certainty. I have noticed that the pickup wait times are down from seven to ten minutes to between four and six minutes. Based on this, I would assume there are more vans on the road now. In relation to what I am seeing on the road, I do feel like I see more of them on the road. You almost cannot miss one if you are out on the road more than 5-10 minutes and I don't think this would have been true a year ago. Also, when I visited the Waymo Depot (and before it gets asked, I did not see the garage, I only saw the waiting room and a meeting room), I saw a couple of vans parked on the outside without the topper, indicating they are likely new.

I had a friend who signed up and did get an email back, but has not heard anything since September 2018. This leads me to believe they are at capacity for the time being, but having seen that picture where there were a lot of them parked, I imagine they will be adding more riders soon.