Writing without reading other comments first, because I'm just that "ugh" from the source article. Just what we need - another Niche Democrat managing to alienate rural and low income voters without even trying - just what the DNC needs! Smh...
I have thought of Friedman as a moronic egotist ever since the time he was in Egypt for their revolution in 2011, and he lectured a woman in Cairo about how the people should protest and proceeded to give her a lesson in Egyptian history. Now he's telling Democrats that if they just get on board with making Waymos, they'll be back in power in a heartbeat. Never mind that Biden screwed us over by insisting on running for a second term, then dropping out and leaving the race with a last-minute candidate most voters wouldn't have nominated but had no choice but to accept. Nuance and subtlety have never been part of Friedman's very limited skill set, and in this doofy column, it shows.
How do I know Thomas Friedman is a New Yorker (who probably lives in CT or NJ,) without him telling me? I have a hard time remembering the last time I took a taxi or an Uber. I sort of live in a city but I commute 40 minutes to work each day with no public transportation option. There isn't even a feasible bus route. When I do go to NYC, I use the subway. The only time I've been to LA? I actually used the bus to get around, and do you know LA actually has a good bus system?
The taxis in Austin will be Tesla model Y not the “Twinkie Bus” looking vehicles pitched.
They won’t be FSD, they’ll be closed course, finite geography, with remote assistance, meaning, somebody still driving watching remotely. That’s what I’ve read.
Again there is a complete lack of understanding of the market forces at work. Say FElon didn't lie during the Q1 (lack of) Earnings call and is actually going to produce ONE MILLION!1!!1! driverless vehicles next year - how is that going to affect the market for rides? As there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 million Uber/Lyft drivers and that market seems to be able to accommodate the number of riders that need rides does that mean that there will be any market for all of these additional rides? If you increase supply then what happens to demand?
The notion that somehow you are going to get Americans out of their cars and just use ride shares for all their transportation seems to lack any understanding of how the fine citizens of the US can't seem to take advantage of the transport options they already have. Unless you make it cost $10 per half hour to park their cars anywhere that isn't at their home, I doubt that you are going to get people to abandon their private vehicles, so flooding the market with driverless cars isn't going to do anything except burn capital.
Of course FElon stated that the per mile cost of a Robotaxi ride would only be 30 to 40 cents, but then again he's managed to lie about costs of things pretty much constantly for the last decade so there's that.
I don't drive anymore, but neither do I use Uber because it's as expensive as a regular taxi. I live in a suburb, and to get to the city is $50 one way.
Nope, he won't because the NYT thinks he's brilliant. He wrote several best seller books, which I cannot imagine anyone actually wasting their money on.
What i thought was really offensive about Friedman's column was his proposal to refund the college tuition of graduates with science degrees. I guess the poor schmucks who got liberal arts degrees are useless, probably shouldn't have been in college to begin with, deserve to pay for their useless degrees, which they can take to their great jobs twisting screws into I-Phones.
You know, I think this is a great idea -- it just needs a more inspiring pitch. Here's a first cut:
"We choose to build a bunch of comical robot streetcars this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
A) I’m very glad I don’t read the NYT and get sucked in to a Friedman or Brooks column.
2) i worked in Software Engineering for over 4 decades. No f-ing way am I getting into an autonomous (self-driving) vehicle. Especially if the Space Nazi has anything to do with it.
So let me get this straight: people already live online in echo chambers and already don’t trust the neighbors around them and already dislike much automation while apparently also being suspicious of clerks, checkers, and front line staff, but the best thing to heal our nation would to be to remove yet another job that doesn’t require a lot of training to make a decent wage and yet another job that with a person in it requires us to interact with one another.
Got it. I knew self checkout was deleterious to community but the decimation of the cabbies is just another way to discourage people from interacting with the people in their neighborhood.
Writing without reading other comments first, because I'm just that "ugh" from the source article. Just what we need - another Niche Democrat managing to alienate rural and low income voters without even trying - just what the DNC needs! Smh...
I have thought of Friedman as a moronic egotist ever since the time he was in Egypt for their revolution in 2011, and he lectured a woman in Cairo about how the people should protest and proceeded to give her a lesson in Egyptian history. Now he's telling Democrats that if they just get on board with making Waymos, they'll be back in power in a heartbeat. Never mind that Biden screwed us over by insisting on running for a second term, then dropping out and leaving the race with a last-minute candidate most voters wouldn't have nominated but had no choice but to accept. Nuance and subtlety have never been part of Friedman's very limited skill set, and in this doofy column, it shows.
How do I know Thomas Friedman is a New Yorker (who probably lives in CT or NJ,) without him telling me? I have a hard time remembering the last time I took a taxi or an Uber. I sort of live in a city but I commute 40 minutes to work each day with no public transportation option. There isn't even a feasible bus route. When I do go to NYC, I use the subway. The only time I've been to LA? I actually used the bus to get around, and do you know LA actually has a good bus system?
Houston's isn't bad either. And they also have a train.
The only moon shot I am interested is the one with Trump, Musk, Hegseth, Noem, et al on board.
The taxis in Austin will be Tesla model Y not the “Twinkie Bus” looking vehicles pitched.
They won’t be FSD, they’ll be closed course, finite geography, with remote assistance, meaning, somebody still driving watching remotely. That’s what I’ve read.
Again there is a complete lack of understanding of the market forces at work. Say FElon didn't lie during the Q1 (lack of) Earnings call and is actually going to produce ONE MILLION!1!!1! driverless vehicles next year - how is that going to affect the market for rides? As there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 million Uber/Lyft drivers and that market seems to be able to accommodate the number of riders that need rides does that mean that there will be any market for all of these additional rides? If you increase supply then what happens to demand?
The notion that somehow you are going to get Americans out of their cars and just use ride shares for all their transportation seems to lack any understanding of how the fine citizens of the US can't seem to take advantage of the transport options they already have. Unless you make it cost $10 per half hour to park their cars anywhere that isn't at their home, I doubt that you are going to get people to abandon their private vehicles, so flooding the market with driverless cars isn't going to do anything except burn capital.
Of course FElon stated that the per mile cost of a Robotaxi ride would only be 30 to 40 cents, but then again he's managed to lie about costs of things pretty much constantly for the last decade so there's that.
I don't drive anymore, but neither do I use Uber because it's as expensive as a regular taxi. I live in a suburb, and to get to the city is $50 one way.
Ta, Dok. I've never seen the guinea pig taxis, and I don't give a flying duck (or fuck) what Friedman has to say about anything, ever.
What on earth does Ta mean? Seriously.
I think the AI running a Waymo taxi could write a better op-ed column. Friedman should be worried about losing his job.
Nope, he won't because the NYT thinks he's brilliant. He wrote several best seller books, which I cannot imagine anyone actually wasting their money on.
"Maintenance workers" have "better paying jobs"? Whuh?
What i thought was really offensive about Friedman's column was his proposal to refund the college tuition of graduates with science degrees. I guess the poor schmucks who got liberal arts degrees are useless, probably shouldn't have been in college to begin with, deserve to pay for their useless degrees, which they can take to their great jobs twisting screws into I-Phones.
No waymo dude! Dude waymo!
Driverless cars; an answer to a question nobody asked.
You know, I think this is a great idea -- it just needs a more inspiring pitch. Here's a first cut:
"We choose to build a bunch of comical robot streetcars this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
A) I’m very glad I don’t read the NYT and get sucked in to a Friedman or Brooks column.
2) i worked in Software Engineering for over 4 decades. No f-ing way am I getting into an autonomous (self-driving) vehicle. Especially if the Space Nazi has anything to do with it.
Hardware engineer RF and audio, 4 decades. No way am I getting into a self-driving car.
Pui Pui Molecar is simply the best. That's all I have to say on the topic of Thomas Friedman.
And they're cuter than Friedman, by a mile.
So let me get this straight: people already live online in echo chambers and already don’t trust the neighbors around them and already dislike much automation while apparently also being suspicious of clerks, checkers, and front line staff, but the best thing to heal our nation would to be to remove yet another job that doesn’t require a lot of training to make a decent wage and yet another job that with a person in it requires us to interact with one another.
Got it. I knew self checkout was deleterious to community but the decimation of the cabbies is just another way to discourage people from interacting with the people in their neighborhood.