I have grown quite curious, and sympathetic, to the comings and goings of Waymo cars. This is a discussion we are all gradually, yet steadily, beginning to share as Waymo becomes better known. If you’ve never heard of Waymo, I can appreciate that. And, if you’re hip to it, please stick around as well. I’ll share with you what I’ve experienced firsthand. In fact, you can view a YouTube video I did all about it here:
So, how many Waymos does it take to start a movement? I asked Google and, since it should know, especially since it runs Waymo, it states: “As of October 2024, Waymo operates around 300 driverless cars in San Francisco. This is part of a national fleet of about 700 driverless cars.” That seems like a fair amount! The rest of “the fleet” of robotaxis is in Austin, Phoenix and Los Angeles (with more cities emerging, like Atlanta). Nice start, don’t you think? Waymo was so special, only a few months ago, that you needed to be on a waiting list to get access to the app. On a visit to San Fran in November, it was no big deal for me to get the app and hop into a Waymo. As of this writing, the big thing right now is people posting their first Waymo rider experience. That is not going to end anytime soon. People’s reaction to Waymo appears to run the gamut from all-in early adopter to cautious newcomer.
I have to admit that Waymo, or any extended thoughts on self-driving cars, was not on my radar before my visit to San Francisco last November (just prior to the election of you-know-who). Waymo was way in the back of my mind, along with a million other bits of news items and random factoids. And, then, suddenly, I find myself loading up a new app and hopping into the future. I had recently read Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, the now-classic 2012 novel that plays with the tension and intermingling of bookish old hippie culture and nervy high tech in San Francisco. The night before, I had gone to a reading at the epicenter of the old guard counterculture, City Lights Bookstore. The moment I was finally inside, I felt a sense of relief and resolution: I had waited a certain amount of time; I had figured out a new app; I was already in the throes of being driven without anyone behind the wheel when it steadily became a new normal. Here I was, this bookish neo-hippie inside this futuristic vehicle (a taxi with a robot for a driver!) but I wasn’t quaking in my sandals!
In fact, there is more of a process in breaking in a new human driver interaction than there is in letting a machine do the work. And that, in a nutshell, is the essential difference; the crossing of a threshold done with each new innovation: letting go and letting the machine do the work!
Did the machine do as good as job as I would like? Well, a driverless car will inevitably be a better driver, overall, than I could ever hope to be what with the help of sensors, radar and cameras. A machine never gets tired or distracted. That said, a machine does not have the human touch, that common sense that tells a human driver what to do in a human moment. Anyway, while I was on this recent trip, I used a Waymo on three separate rides. I noticed that the Waymo does not truly know how to improvise. It will not do well with more obscure pickup spots, but neither will a human driver. A Waymo may opt to pick you up at an alternate location for no good reason, at least not for your benefit, and the same can be said for a human driver. A Waymo may pull over to the curb, again for no clear reason, at least not for your benefit, and so too a human. All that said, I never felt unsafe in a Waymo. We still have a long road ahead for Waymo but, overall, I remain optimistic. And, heck, I don’t always like to make small talk and the Waymo is more than cool with that.
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