[AutonomousVehicles] Waymo and Other Information

[pmdonahue2 at gmail.com]

Good afternoon everyone,

 

                I promised my wife I would send the information she promised
for Waymo and for a few related autonomous vehicle information sources I
discovered yesterday. Here they are:

 

Waymo Website: www.waymo.com <http://www.waymo.com> 

 

Waymo 1:

This is the Waymo Ride Hailing service we heard about during this year's
national convention:

Website: https://waymo.com/waymo-one

 

They also have a You Tube Channel to which we have subscribed.

 

Let's Talk Autonomous Driving:

 

                This Website concerns itself with all things autonomous
vehicles and driving. Here is their Website URL.  

 

Website: https://ltad.com

 

Like Waymo Let's Talk Autonomous Driving also has a You Tube Channel to
which we have also subscribed.

 

While exploring it yesterday I came across an article about a ride several
blind individuals took recently and Waymo's trusted tester partnership with
the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind. The text to the story appears
below: 

 

Autonomous Vehicles Represent a New Form of Independence for People Who Are
Blind

Play Video

Read

LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired SF

Partnered with LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired SF

Like so many other people who have had the chance to go to college, Bryan
Bashin's experience transformed his life. For many people, it's about
learning to see the world in a new light. For Bashin, it was about learning
how to live in the world without being able to see.

Bryan has been blind since he was a teenager, but confidently navigating the
world wasn't something he initially knew how to do.

"Like so many blind people, I didn't know how to be blind," Bryan shared.
That all changed as he attended college, entered his twenties, and met other
blind people who were boldly creating the lives they wanted.

"Part of my growth was to find blind people who were just living life and
living the way they wanted to, going where they wanted, doing what they
wanted to do," Bryan said.

Now, as CEO of LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San
Francisco, Bryan makes it his mission to equip others to find the same sense
of independence and freedom that he found. 

My purpose is to make sure that other blind people who are newly blind or
just learning to deal with blindness, have the same opportunities so that
they can have the life they want.

- Bryan Bashin, CEO of LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired SF

"My purpose is to make sure that other blind people who are newly blind or
just learning to deal with blindness, have the same opportunities so that
they can have the life they want," Bryan said.

Founded in 1902, LightHouse is a San Francisco-based nonprofit with a
mission to serve the rehabilitative, educational and community needs of
people who are blind or have low vision in Northern California and beyond. 

Sheri Albers, Community Outreach Coordinator for LightHouse, said she now
has her dream job telling people in the Bay Area about LightHouse and the
support and resources available to them. 

"I grew up with an eye disease that was degenerative, losing my vision
slowly over my life, but I didn't have any services," Sheri said. "I kind of
struggled and fended for myself."

Now, in her job at LightHouse, Sheri gets to go out into the community and
help connect people with resources.

"In a way, it's me telling my story about what I did not have as a blind
person growing up, and what they have at their fingertips with LightHouse,
so to speak," Sheri said. Sheri's new mantra is "Where has LightHouse been
all my life?"

The organization serves thousands of people and, Bryan said, they all share
a common need: "To go where they want, when they want, with as little
inconvenience to others as possible." 

Sheri said that for people experiencing vision loss later in life, losing
the ability to drive can be devastating. Without training and mentorship a
newly-blind person may often be understandably overwhelmed at first. "The
depression of that, and the realization of the potential loss of the
independence from that, sets in," Sheri explained.

Sheri emphasized that, for people who are blind, the ability to easily and
conveniently go from point A to point B is fundamentally about mobility
equity.

Every day, a hundred million Americans get in cars when they want, go where
they want to go, do it by themselves, and have that tranquility...We want
that too.

- Sheri Albers, Community Outreach Coordinator for LightHouse for the Blind
and Visually Impaired SF

"Every day, a hundred million Americans get in cars when they want, go where
they want to go, do it by themselves, and have that tranquility," Sheri
said, adding that most sighted people are not refused entrance to
ride-hailing vehicles because they have a guide dog or asked insulting
questions about how they became blind. "Those hundred million Americans are
just living their lives," said Sheri. "We want that too."

To that end, LightHouse has joined the Waymo-led public education campaign,
Let's Talk Autonomous Driving, a partnership dedicated to fostering
conversation and raising awareness about how fully autonomous driving
technology could offer a safe mobility option to connect people and
communities.

"So the chance to have autonomy in vehicles is a means to get us to where we
want to go, which is living in the world, being part of the world," Bryan
emphasized. "It's not just about going to a place, it's about having
possession of your own life."

For people who are blind, fully autonomous driving technology represents a
new way to get around without depending on anyone else, going wherever they
want to go, at whatever time they choose.

"Most Americans have had that privilege for a hundred years since the
invention of a car," Sheri said. "We've had to wait for a century until
finally technology has caught up and allowed us to have the same experience
as everyone else."

Bryan and Sheri recently took a ride with Waymo to experience fully
autonomous driving technology for themselves. 

Waymo has been operating the Trusted Tester Program, offering autonomous
rides, with autonomous specialists behind the wheel, to riders in San
Francisco and recently began offering fully autonomous rides, with no human
driver behind the wheel, to its San Francisco employees.

As Bryan and Sheri settled into the Waymo vehicle, Bryan asked Sheri if she
was ready to begin the ride. She nodded 'yes.'

"Here we go," Bryan said as he pressed the Start button to begin the ride.
Bryan and Sheri were immediately impressed by how the car confidently began
the trip.

"There was no hesitation at all," Sheri said. 

After their ride, Bryan and Sheri reflected on the significance of what they
had just experienced. 

"You could feel a zillion sensors in that machine just noticing everything.
It was cautious, but it felt like a machine that was super aware," Bryan
said.

Sheri said the ride represented the beautiful freedom, independence and
autonomy of being able to go wherever she chooses. 

"To have been able to experience the exhilaration of riding in an autonomous
vehicle today as blind people, oh my goodness, I mean, it is just
inexplicable joy," Sheri said. 

 

Bryan said that, for people who are blind, advocating for and embracing
innovative new ways to have freedom and autonomy has been part of playing an
active role in shaping their own destinies.

"Independence is won by blind people through intention and through hard
work," Bryan said, adding that the San Francisco Bay Area is the world
center for disability rights movements, from the birthplace of The National
Federation of the Blind to the Independent Living movement. "We want to
bring a future where every human being, no matter their level of eyesight,
is cherished and every human being has a chance to reach their potential."

 

                If Brian, Sherry, or anyone else who has used Waymo in
Phoenix or San Francisco are on this list we would be curious to hear how
the Waymo fare stacks up to ride fares charged by Lyft and Uber. The cost to
ride could also determine our choices to use Waymo and other autonomous ride
hailing services or to continue to use conventional ridesharing services
like Lyft and Uber. Hopefully someone on here can speak to this issue.

 

 

                It's awesome that Waymo is beginning to expand to other
cities and eventually to other areas of the country. It would be awesome if
the NFB became a trusted tester and we could experience Waymo for ourselves
in Houston next year. Perhaps President Riccobono and our national leaders
are already working on that for next year. Then to bring it to San Antonio
to give us another transportation option for our transportation toolbox.

 

People have asked if services like Waymo could replace the likes of Lyft and
Uber. As long as there are those who feel squeamish about riding in a fully
autonomous vehicle with or without a Waymo One Autonomous Specialist there
will always be room for Lyft and Uber.   

Being able to drive independently is something I've imagined for many years.
It's becoming a reality. Waymo 1 is a major step on the road to a fully
autonomous vehicle a blind person can drive independently. Let's Waymo!!!

 

Peter Donahue

 

 

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