Doctor M. PopularAug 8, 2023

Have you ever noticed that most self-driving cars don't have any passengers?

"Deadheading" is an industry term for keeping driverless cars in constant motion, even when they have neither a passenger nor a destination. Waymo & Cruise rely on deadheading to avoid paying for parking.

Why pay the city for public parking when you can store your car on the road for free (as long as it's moving)?

Since I've started keeping track, I've noticed that over 90% of the self-driving cars I see are empty...

Show threadDoctor M. PopularAug 8, 2023

Tonight I spent one hour at the corner of Cesar Chavez & Guerrero St counting driverless cars.

Between 5-6pm, I counted 27 driverless cars, but only 1 appeared to have a passenger.

During rush hour in #SanFrancisco, 96% of the Waymos, Cruises, and Xoops on this busy street were empty!

edit: driverless cars can operate 24/7 in SF, but I've been informed that some are only taking passengers during certain hours (ie 9pm-5am). So the cars I saw today were probably not accepting any paid rides.

Show threadLaurie VossAug 8, 2023
@docpop I thought they weren't allowed to have passengers during the daytime?
Show threadDoctor M. PopularAug 8, 2023
@seldo that could be true. I can’t say, but some do appear to humans in the back I assumed they were passengers, but I don’t know. I’d like to be corrected if that’s the case.
Show threaddavewongilliesAug 8, 2023
@docpop @seldo Yeah, most regular people can only (after signing up on a waitlist) use them from 9pm to 5am (I just got approved or whatever for that recently). There's a small number of testers who can use them outside of those hours.
Show threadDoctor M. Popular
@davewongillies @seldo thanks for that info. I’ve been looking for more information on this, but I’m struggling to find the hard details online. I found an article from last month saying the cars can be used as taxis 24/7, but I’m struggling to find the public information for which services are allowed to charge for rides and during what times.
Aug 8, 2023 at 4:12amIvory for iOS
Show threaddavewongilliesAug 8, 2023
@docpop @seldo A friend of mine is part of their testing program. He said that while Cruise does have the approval to run 24x7 for reasons he's not privy to they're not actually doing that yet