Lauren WeinsteinL.A. residents are finding creative (and simple) ways to disable disruptive Waymo robotaxis (as I predicted long ago would come to pass with autonomous vehicles).
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/25/us/santa-monica-waymo-battles
mike805@lauren So why can't these charging lots be somewhere outside the city? Or at the top of a mall's parking structure, which is presumably empty at night? Electric robot taxis are a potentially green alternative to LA's parking nightmare, but they need to not be a nuisance or people are going to mess with them.
@mike805 They are no better a solution than human-driven taxis, which would at least provide work for the drivers and be far better suited to deal with exceptional situations. And not further enrich fascist Big Tech.
@lauren Human-driven taxis are never going to replace private cars, unless you bring in a servile class to drive them.
Robot taxis could eventually be the primary mode of transport in cities. You could then have smaller parking lots, and charge people to park.
Robot taxis could either seat four with hard partitions between them so people would feel safe sharing, or they could be half-wide and share the lanes.
They can form convoys when they are all going to the same area, reducing traffic.
Wulfy#Robotaxi is not a solution to a city transit problem.
It's a solution to a #crapitalism problem.
*ANY* portion of profits diminished by labor is unacceptable to capitalists.
@n_dimension @lauren Specifically thinking of LA area here. It is obvious that the people who run this city are not capable of fixing the transit in any reasonable time. Yes there is some, and people who happen to live and work around it use it, but otherwise it's faster to drive despite the traffic.
Robotaxis can be deployed quickly without any infrastructure building. Technologies like that usually win out, whether they are a utopian ideal or not.
Just move the charging location.
@mike805 @n_dimension I've lived in L.A. my whole life, in various sections of the city. I've watched the changes good and bad, increases in traffic, everything. And I'll say this. WE DON'T NEED OR WANT GODDAMNED ROBOTAXIS. Period. Full Stop. And attempts to force them down our throats by Big Tech will be regretted by those increasingly fascist firms. Anyone who knows me knows how painful it is for me to say this.
I've been working on the Net since early ARPANET days at the first ARPANET site at UCLA. I've worked inside Google. I still have many friends at Google -- that is, the ones who haven't already resigned or been fired.
Robotaxis are a means toward total control and surveillance of populations by authorities. Not so much in and of themselves, but as part of the fascist dream of eliminating human drivers entirely.
Things have changed. The factors that used to apply no longer can be taken at face value. If I sound fed up with the direction tech is taking now, you're damned right I am.
Mr. Completely@lauren @mike805 @n_dimension yes, and:
The big payout the VC/finance crowd is chasing isn't about taxis or passenger cars, but automation of delivery driving at every level. This is one of the biggest employment sectors in the country & therefore one of the biggest "efficiency" (layoff cost reduction) opportunities in the adjacent possible. I've seen estimates (that finance people seem to believe) that there's around a trillion dollars to be made by capturing and automating that business.
@mrcompletely @mike805 @n_dimension Those estimates like all the estimates surrounding fanciful applications for deliveries by robocar or drone at scale, are likely vastly overstated. The delivery case has an obvious flaw. Not only do you have to be able to drive to a location and find a place to stop and/or park, but get the package out and to the location for final delivery. Humanoid robots? Good luck. Strange little devices trying to navigate dirty stairs and elevators? Good luck again. Demand that people come out to get the packages from the cars at the street? Have fun with that one. It's all almost entirely VC wet dreams at the expense of everyone else.
@lauren @mike805 @n_dimension oh I know. I'm not saying I believe it'll actually work. I'm saying it's plausible that this is what Elon, Andreesen et al believe and that it's one of their goals. Like most Elon schemes it ignores a lot of steps in the critical path. It's worth talking about bc of the damage the attempt could cause along the way. The likelihood of it working is perhaps greater than the Mars plan, that's about all I can say for it 😁