Driverless cars

Image Courtesy of BD Bondy

By Brian Bondy

A month or so back I wrote about driverless taxis, in particular, the Waymo driverless taxis in the Phoenix area. Last week, my brother and I took a Waymo to try it out.

My brother has been quite skeptical of these, and after seeing them on the streets, we were both still apprehensive, but also intrigued. Our opportunity came one evening and we decided to take a Waymo to a restaurant. I already had the app on my phone, it was very simple to use. Basically, it comes up and asks where you want to go. It assumes the pickup location is where you are, which can be altered.

The app gives you the price of the ride, and you press the button to summon the car, a final bit I unfortunately neglected to do. I realized several minutes later that I didn’t actually press ‘Enter’ so the price went up a dollar. Apparently, pricing is based on demand.

In this area, the house where I was staying was just outside the Waymo boundary, so we had a 5 minute walk to the Camelback Inn to meet the car. It tells me this on the app, and it gives a map for where the car will stop. We have 5 minutes, once the car arrives, to get in and start the ride. It also said the taxi was 18 minutes away.

We walked down to the Inn and waited. The app said the car was there, but we didn’t see it. Apparently, we were in the wrong spot. I spoke to a hotel worker and he kindly gave us a lift to the back of the hotel lobby where the Waymo was waiting. We got in, and as you can see in the first video, and it was weird. I mean, really weird. There’s no driver. Nobody is in the front seat.

​The car has a touchscreen in the back seat prompting us to start the ride, which I tapped. The car then slowly proceeded to make its way out of the labyrinthine parking lots of the Camelback Inn. It was very cautious driving there, on its way to the main road.

The car told us to fasten our seatbelts, signaled the turns, and avoided hitting cars and pedestrians. Once on the bigger street the car drove confidently, not aggressively, but definitely not like it was afraid, like its passengers were. It never exceeded the speed limit. We arrived at our destination in one piece, and again, it was very cautious inside the parking lot. We got out and the car locked itself up and drove off.   

Click to see how it all ends

​The return trip was similar. I requested the Waymo from the restaurant. It picked us up out front, where only it knew exactly where it would stop and unlock its doors. The only comment I can make on its driving was when it left that parking lot and went to cross a 6 lane roadway, I was a bit concerned at it crossing in front of a truck in the suicide lane that was trying to turn into the parking lot. I would have waited, but it did work out fine.

The ride back to the Inn was still exciting, but I have to say, a bit less so. The ride was ordinary, which is exactly what you’d want. It was still weird, and fun, but also, it was a just a taxi ride. The ‘driver’ was confident, and never went over the speed limit. There were some odd movements in the parking lot, but not concerning. One pedestrian seemed to see it was a Waymo and purposely didn’t move out of the way. Maybe that’s his thing, or maybe he doesn’t like Waymo. I would have moved faster than he did, but the Waymo simply moved around him.

Since I am all for driverless vehicles, I quite enjoyed the experience. I don’t know when they will get to the Abiquiu area, but for now, I guess I’ll have to drive my car all by myself.