What it's like to ride in a driverless Waymo
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I got a brief preview of the not-too-distant future, when driverless Waymo cars will soon roam our streets.
The big picture: Waymo received its final approval last week to roll out autonomous cars in San Diego and plans to launch in stages soon, spokesperson Sandy Karp told Axios.
- Last week, I went on a driverless ride.
Inside the vehicle: The little blue Ojai minivan picked me up in Balboa Park and navigated the traffic around Hillcrest like a pro.
- I'd ridden in one before, so I was already used to the steering wheel moving on its own…sort of.
- It pulled over when an ambulance passed, slowed as it drove over speedbumps and even braked for a squirrel.
- It lurched a bit when it detected an open parking spot and aggressively went for it, but otherwise it was a smooth ride.
You can watch your ride on a tablet in the back seat, so if the Waymo seems to slow or stop for no reason, you can check the screen to see why.
- There are cameras inside the car, Karp said, but you aren't constantly being watched as you ride.
- But if you take off your seatbelt or try to climb into the driver's seat, the action will alert a dispatcher, who would then call into the car to ask what was going on.
- Internal cameras will also flag if there's a mess in the car, so it can be cleaned before the next rider.
- And just like in other rideshares, if it's a big mess, you might get charged.
Yes, but: When the cars go live, they won't drive on the highway initially, Waymo's Karp told Axios.
That will make their use fairly limited in San Diego.
- If you live north of the 8 and want a ride to Petco Park, it would probably take about 45 minutes.
- But they would be useful for getting from one side of downtown to the other, or for other shorter trips.
Friction point: The California Public Utilities Commission gave Waymo its final permit for San Diego last week, over objections from MTS and MTS's Taxicab Advisory Committee.
- MTS argued the cars could block streets or trolley tracks and that local governments should get to decide whether to allow driverless technology, not the state.
- The taxi committee argued Waymos will hurt jobs.
What's next: Waymo has been testing cars with drivers here for months, and made driverless rides available to all local Alphabet employees.
- Soon Waymo's app will go live for the rest of us, but there's no public date on when that will be.
When my ride was done, the Waymo pulled up in Balboa Park and paused before letting me open the doors because another car was passing by.
- I climbed out, and it whirred away.