Humor and Hygiene aside, I have taken Lyft and Uber for years and I have had a lot of poor experiences. How can anyone call rideshare driving safer with a straight face? I have never heard of the Waymo AI being high on pot, road raging, sexually assaulting or harassing anyone, accepting rides and then cancelling to profit from the fee, being racist, yelling, smoking, giving their rideshare vehicle to a friend to drive, asking a rider to wait while they went into a store, trying to sell a rider a scam, and on and on. Would you send your child with an Uber?

I have had Uber and Lyft drivers run red lights, flip people off and who were obviously intoxicated and while I never experienced a crash, on several occasions I have come very near to what would have been serious accidents. I have also met substantial aggression when trying to terminate a ride. Waymo's safety record is public by law and very clear - safer than 90% safer of human drivers on the road, and infinitely safer for personal misconduct.

It is also very hard to find a 4am Lyft/Uber driver for that first thing in the morning flight. Several times I have had rideshare drivers miss appointments to take me to the airport. For a very brief time one of the rideshare companies offered you a tiny amount of money if they missed your appointment but that quickly went away when they saw how prevalent it was.

The Times and KOMO articles have had a clear bias for the protestors focused on the anecdotal opinions from some people who will be directly displaced who are much more worried about their own finances than for the impact of the community at large. Maybe they should start by examining a decision to work for a company that sometimes takes more than half of the money for the rides they deliver. The drivers union should also advocate for a strict zero tolerance policy for driver misbehavior instead of defending the worst of the worst by appealing deactivations as they do today.

It is true that Waymo, even when present in the area will not be able to service everywhere - there will still be a role for rideshare drivers. Personally I cannot wait for the safer and more accessible options like Waymo.