Took my first couple of Uber Waymo rides today in Austin. The experience was pleasant, felt perfectly safe and very well implemented. Yes, it did do a couple of interesting things here and there. In all cases it felt like it made decisions in favor of safety, which is good. In fact, the rides felt just like how I taught my kids to drive, patient, safe and looking ahead for planning and making decisions.
I also thought about Tesla's problem, which is interesting: No recognition whatsoever.
This, I think, is critical. If you are in Austin, it is impossible not to see Waymo's driving around seemingly everywhere. You see them, watch them interact, interact with them (crossing the street, etc.) and start thinking "I have to try this".
I have no clue if there are Tesla robot taxi's driving around Austin. Why? Because I can see Waymo's on the road a block away and recognize them due to the very visible hardware stack they carry. Tesla's? They all look the same. no clue what a Tesla autonomous vehicle might look like, much less see them in action and watch them navigate traffic at a distance and close-up.
So, for a few days, the thought was "I have to ride a Waymo" and Tesla did not even remotely own any part of that sentiment.
They have a big problem. It's the lack of non-trivial physical branding.
and to think they were fed with our captcha training data (among other things) ;)
Took my first couple of Uber Waymo rides today in Austin. The experience was pleasant, felt perfectly safe and very well implemented. Yes, it did do a couple of interesting things here and there. In all cases it felt like it made decisions in favor of safety, which is good. In fact, the rides felt just like how I taught my kids to drive, patient, safe and looking ahead for planning and making decisions.
I also thought about Tesla's problem, which is interesting: No recognition whatsoever.
This, I think, is critical. If you are in Austin, it is impossible not to see Waymo's driving around seemingly everywhere. You see them, watch them interact, interact with them (crossing the street, etc.) and start thinking "I have to try this".
I have no clue if there are Tesla robot taxi's driving around Austin. Why? Because I can see Waymo's on the road a block away and recognize them due to the very visible hardware stack they carry. Tesla's? They all look the same. no clue what a Tesla autonomous vehicle might look like, much less see them in action and watch them navigate traffic at a distance and close-up.
So, for a few days, the thought was "I have to ride a Waymo" and Tesla did not even remotely own any part of that sentiment.
They have a big problem. It's the lack of non-trivial physical branding.