Question. Would you ride a self-driving cab? “Robotaxis” already exist – they’re ubiquitous in San Francisco (where else?) – but some find this Silicon Valley innovation alarming. Even those brave enough to ride in them report feeling unnerved on their first trip.
Personally, I cannot wait for them to come to Australia.
Park, for one second, potential logistical problems, such as Sydney’s and Melbourne’s CBD streets not being wide enough. The same was said of the glorious bicycle lanes I now zip along. As Henry Ford said: “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they’d have said ‘faster horses!’”
Waymo driverless cabs have become more conspicuous on the streets of San Francisco. Credit: YouTube
On a recent, nail-biting share-ride trip, my friend and I asked the (clearly overworked) human driver to pull over; he was visibly nodding off and risked veering into oncoming traffic. My friend offered water spray to wake him up.
Driverless cars don’t get sleepy. They don’t text or drink and drive, or get road rage, or harbour prejudices (against cyclists, for instance). They don’t get distracted by music, weather, passengers, phone notifications, noise or someone hot walking past.
The worst that seems to have happened so far is the horns of about 30 driverless cabs, stationed in a car park, started honking simultaneously in the middle of the night. Admittedly, it conjures a dystopian scene of humanless cacophony, but the company says it fixed that software glitch. And nobody died.
I’d much rather get in a self-driven cab or car than a human-driven one. Yet I feel like I’m in a distinct minority. This could see the biggest shake-up of taxi transportation since Uber’s arrival. It may well put Uber’s current model out of business. But if the reactions of Australians are anything to go by, the moment might take time to reach critical mass here.
After you: Two Waymo driverless taxis stop before passing one another on a San Francisco street.Credit: AP
My Sydneysider friend recently returned from San Francisco and posted a video of his first Waymo trip. Waymo is the self-driving taxi market leader – a name that’ll become as household as Uber if these cabs take off. His Sydney friends’ responses were telling, from “creepy” to “terrifying” to “wouldn’t trust them”. One just said “nope” – five times.
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