When you get first get into a Waymo it feels unnerving. Not because of the empty driver’s seat or spinning steering wheel, but owing to the speed at which you adjust.
Within minutes I found myself completely trusting the car with the missing driver.
The only time I hesitated was when the car crossed a busy intersection, and the reality of whizzing past opposing traffic presented itself. But again, within seconds I relaxed.
Such is how the Waymo presence on the streets of San Francisco has become quite normal.
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The other day I overheard a woman passerby say: “oh that’s a great idea – put the dog in the Waymo and send it home”.
The era of autonomous driving vehicles is evolving fast.
Later this year there could be as many as seven different models of self-driving car on the streets of San Francisco. There are already three models test driving in the city, along with the omnipresent Waymos.
While Waymos are ubiquitous in San Francisco, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for the Alphabet-owned driverless taxi.
A crash early in the year and the unfortunate running over of KitKat, a beloved neighbourhood tabby, caused a public kerfuffle. But it was on December 23rd, in the middle of the Christmas rush, when the possible downside of Waymos really became apparent.
During an electric storm and power outage, dozens of self-driving Waymos in San Francisco came to an abrupt halt in mid-evening traffic. The city was littered with the dystopian sight of white Jaguar cars, distinctive by their whirring north star rooftop sensors, stopped dead in the streets or gathered in packs, confused and lost. The traffic lights had failed – and so had the Waymos.
The incident exposed the possible tech failings of the now everyday San Franciscan taxi service; if the Waymos stop working or get confused and obstruct traffic, they can cause chaos. In a city on constant earthquake alert, that’s not great news.
But none of this has slowed the gallop of the autonomous driving vehicles. There are early signs of how they may change public transport. Waymos are rapidly reducing their trip prices (without tips) to compete with other modes of transport. While prices vary due to factors like peak hours, distances and other factors, early reports suggest they are averaging around $20-25 for rides.
So what’s coming next, literally down the street? Alphabet is testing another vehicle; the Ojai or “Oh-hy”, a boxier version, built in China.
Then there’s the Amazon owned Zoox, already nicknamed, “the toaster on wheels”.
The cute Zoox are trialing in the city, whizzing around the Mission area, with an online waiting list for free trips. These boxy robots have abandoned any pretence of being a normal car with steering wheels and normal functions; they are simply metal boxes on wheels, with two sets of seats facing each other.
Their website declares “it’s not a car, it’s a robotaxi designed around you”. Zoox is planning to launch as a paying driverless taxi service in San Francisco later in the year.
Tesla’s Autopilot “taxis” have been operating in stealth fashion with actual human drivers on board for some time now in the Bay area. These cars are, in fact, self-driving vehicles and one day they will operate without their human drivers as a new fleet of driverless taxis.
Mercedes Benz launched their autonomous driving car with quite a fanfare at the recent CES in Las Vegas. They will be employing Nvidia technology to help the car “reason” like a human. They are also test driving around San Francisco.
Uber, meanwhile, is test driving its “Nuro”, which is designed for goods delivery; it is another box without seats, controls or mirrors.
TechCrunch reports that New York governor Kathy Hochul plans to introduce legislation that would effectively legalise robotaxis in the state with the exception of New York City – for now.
The driverless car wave has also caused its own interesting evolutions.
Women have been ordering Waymos in their droves for safety reasons and so, in the last few months, Uber launched a “woman driver” choice on their app. As Waymo launches from the San Jose and San Francisco airport, we will see how transport may change, which is worth considering when it comes to things such as metros.
Uber has traditionally been my choice of “taxi”, as there really aren’t any actual taxis here any more. At the start of the year, Waymos were a tourist attraction. But now I have the app on my phone. And as Waymos come down in price, they are becoming more attractive. I am on the waiting list to try out a Zoox. As humans we adjust, quickly.
Clearly all of this extraordinary transport tech evolution will cause job losses. But there are other sides to this – safety. The evidence so far points to the fact that they have been incredibly safe. Thus raising the question: could a driverless car or taxi be the saving of a rural community? Once the traffic lights work, maybe.
