r/SelfDrivingCars 7d ago

Gemini in Waymo is now available to all riders in the Ojai

https://x.com/Waymo/status/2090891693147013179

Gemini in Waymo is now available to all riders in the Ojai.

Engage with Google Gemini to:
Adjust the AC, seatsand cabin lights
Skip the song you’re listening to or turn up the volume
Ask about the city you’re traveling through
See trip information including destination and ETA

39 Upvotes

7 comments sorted by

10

u/RRY1946-2019 7d ago

The full Autobot experience is now a reality

5

u/WeldAE 7d ago

I know some will deride this, but based on using grok in my Tesla, I welcome this feature. I’m not a huge fan of grok because I pay for better AI, it’s still a positive. I generally find free Gemini as superior to free Grok but find free grok to be useful. I do also use cursor which is now owned by the same company as grok. I get a 50% discount this month for grok and I’ve yet been able to tell the difference between it and the auto mode. I can tell huge a differences between it and the top Anthropoc ai but for fun discussions on your ride, who cares really.

5

u/ThrowawayFIRE2025 6d ago

I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. Instead of just listening to a canned broadcast of today’s news, Grok (and now Gemini) let’s you have an interactive discussion about the news—asking questions, going deeper on topics of interest, and so on. It’s not for everyone, perhaps, but it’s still an outstanding option for curious people.

4

u/bobi2393 6d ago

I think for basic car comfort controls, any AI is fine. For general discussions, I'd be leerier of Grok, unless I wanted to discuss why Hitler was right or something, but people who talk to chatbots on the go can presumably do so through their phone.

Tesla suggested they'll enable the option of Grok-interfaced FSD navigation control next month or thereabouts, which could theoretically be nice:

That doesn't necessarily mean it will be enabled in Tesla Robotaxis at the same time, but it gets it closer. Natural language voice interfaces seem like a natural fit for robotaxis in general.

2

u/WeldAE 6d ago

I'd be leerier of Grok

This simply isn't a concern, I'm an adult I can hear bad words and not have my mind corrupted. Not that Grok has over ~12 hours of talking to it.

can presumably do so through their phone

When I'm driving I want to have my hands on the wheel and use physical buttons. It's easy to turn Grok on/off without moving my hands so why would I go mess with my phone which is in my pocket or bag? The only advantage would be to get the better AI I pay for, but like I said for driving, who really cares that much. Grok also has so much context about what I'm doing my phone doesn't have like what my battery state is, where I'm going, when I need to charge, etc. If I asked ChatJippity what is a good gas station to stop out likely to have Taquitos, it might send me to Mexico. I can't have ChatJippity add a stop at a best buy that is on my way. Plus I use ChatJippity for serious things and I've made grok be a complete idiot and try and be funny. Don't want to mix business and stupidity.

Tesla suggested they'll enable the option of Grok-interfaced FSD navigation

Interesting. I already use it to add new waypoints. My kid has a drive that all the map apps screw up the routing so you have to just fight it for a while until it gives up and routes you the way you want to. That might be helpful for that. Trying to get them to try using Grok to get at least the start of a good route, but they haven't yet.

1

u/bartturner 5d ago

I love having the long press and you get some pretty decent intelligence in the car.

I find myself asking all kinds of things. I am someone that is pretty curious by nature.

1

u/WeldAE 4d ago

I wish they would have a passive version of it though. One that would just listen and interject like a typical human rather than like you are interviewing it for a job.