As the 3,000-pound robot glided up the curb, I pushed a button on my iPhone’s screen, opened the door, and calmly stepped inside.
As I buckled my seatbelt and settled into the passenger seat, the robot smoothly merged into downtown San Francisco’s notorious traffic and set about taking me on a 20-minute journey across the city.
As I sat and watched the city pass by, calm mood music played, and the car’s steering wheel deftly spun itself as we navigated the streets.
That’s the experience of riding in a Waymo self-driving car. In June of this year, Waymo opened up their self-driving vehicle fleet to anyone in San Francisco.
Robots for Everyone
Before, only journalists, engineers, and selected dignitaries could ride. Now, riding a Waymo car is as easy as downloading the Waymo One app, entering your credit card, and hailing a ride.
Here’s a video that I made of my ride:
I’ve now ridden Waymo around San Francisco three times. At first, I thought the experience would be a novelty–something you do once in order to wow your friends and family with a cool story, and then never repeat.
Going Car-Free (ish)
But I was wrong. On a recent trip into the city from my Lafayette home, I realized that I could spend two hours slowly trudging through East Bay traffic if I drove myself.
Or, I could take BART into the city and catch a Waymo to my destination. I chose the latter. And it was amazing.
I left my giant minivan at home, and made it into the city in 29 minutes on BART (which is perfectly safe and pleasant these days, by the way).
I walked a bit just to enjoy the city streets, and then when I got tired of that, I called a Waymo. The car pulled up in about 5 minutes, and I took my ride across town to Mission Bay.
It was lovely. Unlike riding in a vehicle from Lyft or Uber, there’s no pressure to make small talk with a driver, no concerns about who is behind the wheel and what their driving record might look like, and no variability in the vehicle you get.
It’s always a very clean and new Jaguar. The robot will drive you around in a safer way than a human. And you’ll have calming music and some precious solitude during the ride.
A Meditative Ride
That’s something I didn’t expect about my experience. Driving in a Waymo felt very meditative. I didn’t need to focus on the driving, nor did I need to interact with anyone else. I could just enjoy the tunes and focus my attention on the city passing by.
I’ve driven thousands of miles around San Francisco in Ubers, Lyfts and my own car, but this experience felt different–lighter, freer.
When I arrived at my destination and hopped out of the vehicle, I noticed something else that surprised me. Even after only two rides, the whole experience felt very…normal.
Yes, I know that my Waymo vehicle costs $250,000 and is the results of billions of dollars of research and development and millions of miles of test driving. Yes, I know that it’s only available in a few cities, and is years away from being profitable.
Yet, it’s amazing how the experience of using such a powerful technology quickly starts to feel like just another part of daily life.
It’s not that my rides left me jaded. Far from it–there was a child-like joy in cruising around my own city with a private AI chauffeur.
But the focus quickly shifted from the whiz-bang nature of the technology itself to the more pragmatic aspects of convenience and comfort.
Waymo cars are convenient, comfy, reasonably affordable (my ride cost $18), and entirely safe. My feeling after a few rides was less “Wow, look at this cool new tech!” and more “Why isn’t everyone doing this?”
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