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[Specter]

Just seen an article that the robot taxis are finally a thing now, and tesla is vowing to get in the race soon on it.

we've heard that countless times from elon,  don't believe it until i see it. but on that.

if these things take off.  they are most likely going to be electric.   will they bring them all back in to charge them or dispatch them to the various car chargers around town?

point being, if they dispatch them around town,  maybe this will incentivize... whomever.  to build more charging stations and put them more remotely and not just in the center of the cities.   This would help everyone out in the long run as range anxiety is quelled due to stations being in the boondocks and such.

aaron

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/24/waymo-reports-250000-paid-robotaxi-rides-per-week-in-us.html

[TheRan]

They've been a thing, in the sense that they've been allowed to offer the service to the public, for a few years now. I've even seen a few videos of them getting pulled over by police, very amusing watching them try to figure out what's going on and what to do. Electric makes a lot of sense for the ease of integration and I imagine they're all brought back to a depot to charge, at the moment charging at a public station isn't really that easy to automate. I have seen videos of robot arms that can autonomously plug into cars to charge but that's obviously not going to be implemented at all, or even many, public stations.

[Grauteufel]

Robotaxis are still hype bullshit to scam investors. Yes they exist, in limited fenced areas, under constant supervision with remote drivers ready to take over. Under the current mode of operation they do not have the ability to scale to mass market adoption as taxis, let alone private self driving cars due to the need to have sufficient operators.

[Specter]

TheRan, that is another thing that wouldn't be too hard to implement is wireless charging with them.  They basically drive over a big coil and charge, have a coil in the car and it's a transformer, just like your phone can do, only a bit more efficient.  Yah, trying to plug in would be a nightmare I imagine but driving into a parking spot, not so much.

aaron

[TheRan]

The trouble with wireless charging is it's not going to be as fast, fine if you're just a regular person putting it on charge while you pop to the shops but not when you're a taxi company where every minute a vehicle is off the road is potentially losing you money. Also the cost of public charging will be much higher and further decrease profits.

[Richard230]

Robo taxis have been all over San Francisco for the past couple of years and get a lot of press when they do something stupid, such as stopping in the middle of a street for no apparent reason like a reluctant mule. However, they are now moving south, down the San Mateo Peninsula, on the 101 freeway and into other cities. They are being welcomed with open arms in the city of San Jose. Probably because they will be the only vehicles in the city that will be obeying the posted speed limit. 

[Specter]

TheRan, the wireless charging, i think on a car they might be able to do it up right.  maybe have the 'exterior' half of the transformer on a lift or something so they can press it right up to the car chassis holding the other half of the transformer, metal to metal to complete the magnetic circuit, to increase efficiency a ton.  there are ways on a car that can be easily engineered, that would not be so easy on a phone, as an example.

i was actually bs'ing with someone the other day on something similar for a tire warmer for a tire shop.  the tires are steel belted, use like a big bearing heater to warm them up so they can be mounted / dismounted easier.  don't know how well it'd work but would be a fun project none the less.

aaron

[TheRan]

A raiseable coil would never be implemented on a public charging station, and certainly not to enough of a widespread extent that it would be useful. For regular driven vehicles it offers no advantage unless you're too infirm to exit your vehicle easily.

As for the induction tyre heater, that's an interesting idea. Would be more difficult to control and prevent melting the tyre and it'd also depending on what the heat transfer is like through the rubber, because it's the outer surface we want warm but don't want the inside to get too hot to achieve it.

[Specter]

the only reason i said raisable coil. i am sure there other ways but the key to efficiency is you'll have to complete the magnetic circuit as well... ie the steel ring on a transformer that hits both coils.  airgap transformers are very inefficient.  just something/ somehow to close the coupling of the magnetics, as it is THAT that transfers the power there.  it's hard to put in common words but just. somehow to complete the coupling circuit.

on the tire warmer, agreed.  it'd be like an induction heater, the steel belts creating the heat, sort of like your stovetop on the iron pan thingie. and yah, like i said, just an out of my ass idea, im sure controlling temp and potential spot heating may be an issue, unless you go soft on it,  let it run for say 15 minutes to bring a gentler warm up so if therr are hotspots it'd help dissipate them out a bit??

like i said, goofy idea, does it have merit.  don't know.

aaron

[Motoproponent]

Here in San Francisco they just come "home" and an employee plugs them in. They're not like a Roomba where they charge themselves. Waymo and Zoox have employees at company owned parking garages and lots.

Cruz used to have a parking lot full of EVgo Chargers, that you could use if a robotaxi wasn't coming back for it.

[Curt]

I'm temporarily living in San Francisco and can verify that yes, they are numerous, and it sure looks like they will soon edge out taxis and maybe Uber too. Most of them are Waymo using Jaguar SUVs modified with LIDAR.

They are amazingly effective drivers, navigating the nutty traffic and crazy 6-way intersections around here. They pull in and out of traffic, somehow choosing places to load/unload that are a little questionable but not worse than regular taxis. They accelerate quickly when pulling into traffic or when a light turns green. They are super careful around pedestrians, bicycles and electric kick scooters like the one I use.

I've installed the Waymo app on my phone and intend to try one eventually for the fun of it, although they are said to be a little slower than Uber and a little more expensive.

Musk made a lot of claims about Tesla robotaxis 7-8 years ago, including that privately owned Teslas would function as robotaxis, but Tesla is very much losing out in this space.

[Specter]

That's pretty par for Tesla,  i remember him bragging on the power wall thing and lost the race on that one, and a few other innovations as well.

i  don't see them overtaking uber and the likes,  i guarantee you the first time someone says something to the likes, the little marxist twats will start burning down the robo taxi's next.  TBH though with the attitudes the uber and grub hub ccs' have, i can see them becoming preferred over entitled flesh units.  in fact i can see them dominating in the take out food industry,  don't have to worry about them stealing your food, or demanding a 30 dollar tip and spitting in it either.   i also don't see them getting robbed or killed in shitty hoods either, which will be a plus.  robbed probably but no loss of life is the most important.

so they will dominate for a few years, then the next wave of political pay offs will be made and the 'drone / bot' delivery will take to the air and they'll just swoop right down onto your porch or back yard and drop food off.  Traffic jam, no worries, the skies are clear.  cept for santa ana days.

aaron

[TheRan]

You still need someone to load and unload the food. I personally am not walking out to the car to collect my pizza, if I'm paying for delivery I expect it to my door.

[Curt]

I guess there will need to be a Tesla Optimus robot who gets out of the car and brings it to your door.

What are the chances those don't get vandalized? Maybe they could be outfitted with spinning razor blades for self-defense. That should solve any problems

But it actually seems like acrobatic humanoid robots won't be too hard, and they may already be overdue. Just plug all the sensors and motors into an AI chip and they'll be running obstacle courses in no time. Battery size and life might be the hardest problem.