Self-driving car company Waymo announced it’s branching out to the Peninsula on April 11, so I tried one of their taxis for myself.
Waymo recently made paid rides available to the public in San Francisco and began testing in Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View. The robot taxi has become a bucket list attraction, offering a fun activity for tourists and an alternative to transportation companies like Uber and Lyft for locals.
The company aims to reduce crashes with calculated driving that prevents dangerous mistakes, respects speed limits, and follows traffic laws. Waymo also seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as the cars are fully electric.
For those who are weary of being driven by a stranger, self-driving cars can feel like a safer and more comfortable option. Some M-A students are eager to try these cars, while others share safety concerns and prefer the familiarity of a human driver.
Sophomore Aryn Roodman doesn’t plan on riding in a driverless car until further development is completed. She is concerned that inexperienced drivers may behave unpredictably and confuse the technology. “We have too many teenagers driving in this area to have self-driving cars. Maybe we could have them in the future, but not now,” Roodman said.
Roodman is also concerned about the possibility of accidents and malfunctions. “There’s no one behind the wheel, and I don’t trust technology that much. They could hit something, the technology could fail because of the weather, or they could miss a red light,” she said.
Senior Rose Klingsporn shares similar worries. “From my understanding, they don’t have the depths of decision-making capacity that human beings do. I’ve heard they don’t pull over the correct way when ambulances come by,” she said.
“If you’re in a self-driving car and it crashes, who do you blame? Who can you sue? There’s no driver, and you can’t sue a multi-billion dollar company with the best lawyers in the universe,” Klingsporn added.
Sophomore Atessa Gholamy has a more optimistic view. “I think if people and objects around the car are predictable, then a self-driving car is probably safer because it knows what to do. I trust the technology behind it,” she said.
Some students are wary that new technology can’t keep up with the complications of driving. “I don’t believe an AI robot can perceive things like a human brain can,” sophomore Isaac Vele said.
“They could malfunction. I would only feel comfortable riding in one in the future,” junior Esli Paz said.
Determined to discover the benefits and drawbacks of Waymo, I set out to try one of these cars myself. After being greeted by calming Lo-fi music and an automated voice telling me to buckle up, I was prompted to push the “start ride” button on the touchscreen. At first, it felt dystopian and terrifying to watch the steering wheel have a mind of its own, but as the ride went on, it began to feel normal.
Other than a few fast right turns, the vehicle drove smoothly and stayed exactly at the speed limit. The interior was clean, and I appreciated the touchscreen’s inclusion of a button to pull over in case I chickened out.
The cars are not yet approved to offer rides on highways or to the SFO Airport due to the heightened crash probability at high speeds. This reduces their competitiveness against other taxi companies like Uber, as it limits the range of rides and extends the wait time. However, many are captivated by the thrill of a robot taxi and don’t mind the extra time.
“If I’m alone, I wouldn’t mind it taking longer to get somewhere in a self-driving car because it’s more fun than just taking a normal taxi,” Gholamy said.
“I don’t think our technology is in a place where self-driving cars can be widely executed with a vision that tech people tend to see it with. I don’t think it’s feasible, nor do I think it necessarily would be good for the health of cities,” Klingsporn said.
