Short answer: Sam Nadler, who worked at Lyft and lives in Nashville, is surprised: current Waymo markets have stable climates, while Nashville has four seasons, icy roads and downtown chaos, and lower ride volume than cities like Chicago or Miami.
Watch this answer from Episode 13 (starts at 16:08) · Episode 13 notes and transcript
From Episode 13: AI Built My Liver + We 3D Printed Our Podcast (Reddit x Google, Lyft x Waymo News), starting at 16:08.
Jordan Metzner [16:08]: Yeah. More competition, I think, is just gonna be good overall for the AI community. Alright. One last story here. Lyft and Waymo signed a deal to offer rides in Nashville. This story came to me as a surprise. I know Waymo is expanding markets beyond Los Angeles, and I just read that they are doing the airport at San Francisco. They're already operating in the city of San Francisco, Austin, Texas, and some other cities as well. And I know Zoox, Amazon's competitor is expanding in new markets. Found this to be a unique bedfellows opportunity between Waymo and Lyft. But, as someone who, one, is from Nashville, and, two, you still work at Lyft, I'd love to get your feedback.
Sam Nadler [16:51]: Yeah. Lyft is my alma mater, so, and, obviously, live in Nashville. So kind of a exciting announcement. I am a little surprised Nashville was the location. Pre other current Waymo markets, I believe, are Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, I think via Uber in Austin, and maybe one other place. So generally, pretty warm and stable climates. I know, from my experience at Lyft, and I visited the Level 5 autonomous facility, which I think was later transitioned to toy Toyota, I believe. I can't remember exactly. But, I remember specifically that, weather construction and all these things can have a huge impact on the success of autonomous driving. Just the variability makes it obviously more complicated. That is why they launched in places like Los Angeles, which is really stable climate, Phoenix, etcetera. I guess San Francisco has a lot of rain, etcetera. But Nashville, you've got all four seasons. You've got you can get icy roads. You have depending on where you are, you have the downtown chaos, which you have pedal taverns and people walking everywhere.
Sam Nadler [18:09]: So, and as a market, I know you know, it's been years, but I'm I'm really familiar with the ride metrics of Nashville. And, Nashville's not nearly as big as other cities. Maybe that's why they're launching it here first. But, their its ride volume is is not nearly as big as places like Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, all these other, big metropolitan areas, Dallas, etcetera. So I'm excited to have it here in my market, and I think my daughter mentioned to me the other day that she's never taken a autonomous driving vehicle, neither have I. So I guess it's in the near future for us. But, yeah, I was a little surprised Nashville was the first choice, but we welcome it.
Jordan Metzner [19:00]: Congrats to Nashville and Lyft, and, yeah, we'll see as these robotaxis enter new markets with, as you mentioned, variable climate, what the impact will be. Alright, Sam. We're at mid September. AI is still in a flurry. We've got, about a little over one quarter left for the end of the year. Looks like rates interest rates are dropping, so I think we're gonna see a flourishing stock market in the last quarter of the year. But, yeah, overall, episode. Great to chat with you. Take care of your personal health. I think that's maybe one takeaway here. But any last thoughts or comments or feedback from you?
Sam Nadler [19:38]: No. Thanks for connecting for episode 13, and don't forget, like and subscribe.
Jordan Metzner [19:44]: Yeah. We got some great episodes coming up as we finish out the year, so don't forget to like and subscribe. You can find us on YouTube and all your favorite podcast platforms for Sam and Jordan. See you guys all next week. Thank you.
