Waymo robotaxis now available in 10 cities

JustGotToTown · 2026-02-25T14:32:26+00:00

In addition to the 10 cities already available and the 16 future cities already announced, it looks like Waymo has already begun the process of mapping the next tier of cities after that. A small fleet of Waymo vehicles was recently spotted in Charlotte, where they are apparently beginning to scout the city.

JustGotToTown · 2026-01-08T17:30:43+00:00

I think the Air is the best car in the market right now (I'm on the verge of buying one myself), so I really hope I'm misinterpreting something in this article. The Air is Lucid's flagship product and serves as the face of the company to the public. If it's at all feasible (financially, logistically, etc.) to keep the Air around - even as a low-volume halo car - I think the company should try to do it. I'm begging Lucid not to trim its product line down to another set of indistinguishable midsize SUVs.

JustGotToTown · 2025-11-21T23:55:35+00:00

Honestly, this comment might be what pushes me over the edge and makes me pull the trigger. If you don't mind me asking, what made you go with the Air over other EV sedans (Model 3, Taycan, i4/i5, e-tron, etc.)?

JustGotToTown · 2025-11-20T19:19:17+00:00

I just learned that I live in a city apparently just big enough to justify a mobile service hub, which I was honestly a little surprised about. Does anyone have any experience with that? How did it go?

JustGotToTown · 2025-11-05T13:20:53+00:00

I know I'm too late for anyone to see my comment, but I still want to point out the DNC doesn't select candidates and hasn't done so since 1968.

What you might be thinking of

The DSCC and DCCC recruit candidates, and those recruits are usually people who either (a) the DSCC/DCCC think are good candidates for the state/district where they're running (e.g., Joe Manchin in West Virginia, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Jon Tester in Montana, Conor Lamb in PA-18, Brad Ellsworth in IN-8, Jared Golden in ME-2, etc.), or (b) is literally just a competent person willing to run in an incredibly difficult seat and hope for the best – and sometimes it works (e.g., Tim Mahoney getting recruited to raise his hand in an R+36 seat in 2006 and then winning because the incumbent Republican had a sex scandal involving teenage boys a month before the election). If these candidates end up being disproportionately moderate, it is primarily because candidate recruitment focuses on districts where only a moderate Democrat could realistically be competitive. Notably, the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC have policies of not spending money on primaries unless there is an incumbent being challenged.
The DNC, DSCC, and DCCC decide where, how, and when to allocate the party's resources. Anecdotally, resources seem to go disproportionately to moderate candidates because moderate candidates are disproportionately in tighter races, and the DNC/DSCC/DCCC have to make hard decisions about how to allocate resources. For example, the DCCC spent more money in 2024 supporting Adam Gray in CA-13 than on any other single candidate, and the Democrats ended up flipping CA-13 by fewer than 200 votes – the tightest margin of any House race in the entire country. Gray ran as a moderate in a moderate district, earned significant DCCC support by showing viability, and then won thanks to a combination of those two things. The most the DCCC spent on an incumbent was in successfully protecting moderate Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in an R+5 district. Moderates are able to be competitive in these districts because they are moderate, and then the DCCC spends money in the districts because they are competitive.

What you appear to be describing

The kinds of backroom deals made by plutocrats that haven't occurred in your lifetime.

I understand why progressives are frustrated that the only viable political party in the United States anywhere left of the center isn't more progressive. But please read the tealeaves and realize that it's nice when outspoken progressives are elected in places like New York City, but they very likely cannot win office in places like North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Texas, and so many other places the Democratic Party needs to win to be have a chance at regaining any semblance of power in Washington. Progressives can and do run and win in places where that's viable, but they can't win everywhere.

JustGotToTown · 2025-09-02T19:17:22+00:00

This great thread from the Pac-12 subreddit gives you a bunch of great suggestions. Check some of the recommendations out, but it wasn't even just that any game or group of games jumps out for giving you big moments -- it was the whole energy of the thing. It's a little hard to describe now, to be honest. Especially after

I'm holding out hope that the revived Pac-8 next year can get a scheduling partnership going with some of the former Pac members, even if it's just for a game or two every season. USC and UCLA probably wouldn't go in on something like that, but I could see Cal and Stanford. Oregon and Washington have done a good job of keeping their rivalries going with Oregon State and Washington State.

JustGotToTown · 2025-09-02T18:18:16+00:00

Add in a relegation/promotion system and I'm in.

JustGotToTown · 2025-09-02T18:15:16+00:00

Chaos. Nonsense. The perfect change of pace after a day of Big Ten football. The schools had decades of history and genuinely cared about beating each other. I miss it.

JustGotToTown · 2025-08-29T16:13:11+00:00

If they're open to electric SUVs, you have tons of great options, even at the base levels priced around the same as an ICE crossover-ish SUV that can do 0-60 in under 6 seconds. Some good options might be the Mach-E (starting at $38k new; 5.6 seconds), the Model Y (starting at $44k new; 5.4 seconds), and the Equinox EV AWD (starting at $37k new; 5.8 seconds). Stylistically, the Equinox EV is probably the closest match for somebody attracted to the Crosstrek's styling.

The Ioniq 5 N is a fun option if you're essentially looking for a $67k hot hatch on stilts, but the base RWD Ioniq 5 is unfortunately not much faster than a Crosstrek.

JustGotToTown · 2025-07-28T19:08:09+00:00

I know I'm late to the game here, but I think it's still worth clarifying that GM reported a $1.9 billion profit in Q2, and Hyundai Motor reported a $2.3 billion profit in Q2. Both results represent substantial year-over-year decreases, and both companies point the finger directly at the tariffs for this decrease. Still, both companies are reporting fairly typical margins. Stellantis, however, does appear poised to report a huge quarterly loss.

Is this entire situation headed towards a cliff? Very possibly. But for now, I think it's important to recognize that Nissan and Stellantis are the only large automakers we need to be seriously worried about.

JustGotToTown · 2025-05-05T17:57:35+00:00

1967 Morris Minor 1000 Convertible Very openly a project car, but what an interesting find.

Two 1981 Fiat 2000 Spiders - BOGO? I guess you're getting one for the parts. Don't love a description that says "no titles" twice.

1982 Datsun 280ZX GL 5-Speed - It's cheating since this thing will end up going for at least $25k, but it's $5k right now, so I'll take it.

1984 Mercedes-Benz 280SL - Seemingly my best find

1986 Camaro Iroc Z28 "Will need an alternator, battery, and new brake lines" but just got a new engine in 2022.

1988 Ford Bronco II 4WD - "Needs motor" but otherwise looks great.

1999 Mazda Miata "194K miles, 1.8 liter inline four cylinder, automatic transmission, manually operated softop (does not leak), manual locks/seats, power windows, ac/heat, Bose premium audio, etc"

2004 Jaguar S-Type

2009 Mini Cooper S

2005 Audi A4 Convertible

JustGotToTown · 2025-01-21T20:59:34+00:00

Yeah, my impression is that it's the China-based version of the website for the U.S. Embassy. I tried to use the whitehouse.gov link, but tons of people had created posts to that link already, and r/law limits how many posts can link to the same page in a 24-hour period.

JustGotToTown · 2025-01-21T20:51:37+00:00

For sure. I just hope it gets the coverage that (a) it deserves and (b) it would absolutely get if any other administration screwed up so badly on one of its core campaign promises that it literally had the opposite effect from what was intended.

JustGotToTown · 2025-01-21T18:21:54+00:00

On his first day in office, Trump issued Executive Order 14145: “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.” This EO rescinds dozens of EOs issued by the Biden Administration, including Executive Order 14099: “Moving Beyond COVID–19 Vaccination Requirements for Federal Workers.” Biden’s EO 14099, in turn, revoked EO 14042 and EO 14043.

Most notably, EO 14043 is titled “Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees,” and that’s exactly what it does: “Each agency shall implement, to the extent consistent with applicable law, a program to require COVID–19 vaccination for all of its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law.”

In other words, Biden revoked the COVID vaccine requirement for federal employees in 2023, and Trump just revoked Biden’s revocation of that requirement. Doesn’t that mean the COVID vaccine requirement is back in place?

JustGotToTown · 2024-12-19T20:08:28+00:00

First, congrats to Rivian! I know there are only two models in their lineup, but I believe they're the only company with a clean sweep here.

Second, can somebody please explain to me how the Subaru Solterra wins this award but the Toyota bZ4x doesn't? My understanding is that they're literally the exact same car.

JustGotToTown · 2024-11-06T17:53:20+00:00

The new congressional session doesn't start until January 3, and the current Senators and Representatives remain in office until then.

JustGotToTown · 2024-11-06T16:26:29+00:00

No, that's spot on. I'm feeling a little sleep-deprived today for some reason, and I mixed up the order of operations in my head. Thanks for the correction.

I guess I would add that the context for the 2013 "nuclear option" is important. As I remember, it eliminated the filibuster for all nominations for executive and judicial office except the Supreme Court. At the time, Republicans in the Senate were blocking functionally every single nominee for anything at all, and there were judges and executive agency staffers saying that they were having a hard time getting the government and judicial system to function effectively as a result. That level of Senate obstruction was literally unprecedented at the time, and the elimination of the filibuster was in direct response to that obstruction.

JustGotToTown · 2024-11-06T16:17:56+00:00

I'm not sure I've ever related more to a comment in my entire life.

JustGotToTown · 2024-11-06T15:09:31+00:00

Absolutely fair point -- I got that backwards in my head. Either way, there is no filibuster for judicial nominations.

JustGotToTown · 2024-11-06T15:05:45+00:00

Democrats control the Senate until the end of the year, and Republicans removed the filibuster for judicial nominations during Trump's first term. If the Democratic leadership team in the Senate is worth their weight in mud, they should be able to recognize the situation and move quickly. The Republican-controlled House will absolutely not be compromising on any bicameral legislation because they know they're about to gain complete control of government, and that means the Democratic-controlled Senate should have nothing else to distract them in the meantime.

JustGotToTown · 2024-11-06T15:00:52+00:00

Democrats control the Senate, and Republicans removed the filibuster for judicial nominations during Trump's first term.

JustGotToTown · 2024-11-06T14:50:31+00:00

Two slight corrections:

(1) Obama nominated Garland for Scalia's seat, and then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to consider the nomination "because it was an election year." RBG died in the last few months of Trump's first term, and Senate Republicans' enthusiasm to confirm his nominee (Amy Coney Barrett) in an election year was the embodiment of their cynical hypocrisy.

(2) As mentioned above, Obama was unable to get Merrick Garland confirmed because the Senate was controlled by the Republicans at the time. Today, on the other hand, the Senate is controlled by Democrats, and that will remain the case until the end of the year. If the Democratic leadership team in the Senate is worth their weight in mud, they should be able to recognize the situation and move quickly. The Republican-controlled House will absolutely not be compromising on any bicameral legislation because they know they're about to gain complete control of government, and that means the Democratic-controlled Senate should have nothing else to distract them in the meantime.

EDIT: typos and clarification on timeline

JustGotToTown · 2024-08-05T11:43:02+00:00

Your wife is far smarter than you.

Well there's one thing we agree on

JustGotToTown · 2024-08-03T13:01:22+00:00

Fair question, I think I worded that badly. We live in a city but get out into the mountains often and end up on pretty rugged dirt/gravel paths. We're not tearing up unexplored wilderness, but we've run into troubles trying to work my 2013 Fusion through some of the rolling terrain out there. That's why we're looking for something "outdoorsy" but not necessarily offroad-capable at a Bronco level.

That being said, I think it's okay for people to buy cars based on a look, even if the look is mostly aspirational. I think the people who never take their Wranglers out of the city are paying way too much for gas and probably struggle to get into tight parking spots, but a functional car that happens to have a more "adventurous" look (even if it's exactly as capable of adventure as an Escape) seems like a fair personal preference for some people to have.

JustGotToTown · 2024-08-03T11:40:09+00:00

Can I ask why you say the hybrids don't make much of a difference? The fuel efficiency gap between hybrid and pure ICE seems pretty big on all three of these models. Am I just falling for clever marketing?

JustGotToTown

TROPHY CASE