[Grace Kao] What it’s like to ride in a driverless car

Waymo One is the first “autonomous ride-hailing service” available to customers. It advertises itself as offering a safer ride and allowing the autonomy of “people who can’t drive -- whether elderly, blind, or disabled -- to get around and do the things they love.” While many of us are cautiously optimistic and sometimes fearful of technology, in this particular case, I couldn‘t agree more with Google, the parent company of Waymo One.

Recently, I visited San Francisco, California, one of four cities in the US where Waymo One operates. In San Francisco, this service opened to the general public at the end of June 2024. I love new technology and was there in early July, so I jumped at the chance of riding it. In total, I took 5 rides with this service. Think of it as an Uber without a driver in a spotless all-electric Jaguar I-Pace, where you control the temperature and most importantly, the music selection! I was able to choose from a number of K-pop stations.

Calling the car requires an app that is similar to KakaoT, Uber or Lyft. Your location automatically appears on the app and you can adjust it to the correct side of the street, etc. Next, you enter the destination address. Afterward, the app provides you with a price determined by dynamic pricing models. It also gives you an estimated time of arrival (I waited from 3 to 10 minutes). Waymo only operates within the city limits of San Francisco. My rides ranged from US $10 to $25, which is likely comparable to an Uber ride (the caveat is that I almost never take Uber in San Francisco). San Francisco is a very small city -- about 121 square kilometers or about the size of the core areas of Seoul’s Gangnam District (according to Wikipedia).

The vehicle is white and stands out with its 29 cameras along with a rotating Lidar sensor at the top of the vehicle. Of course, these are functional devices, but they also demarcate these cars from regular ones on the road. Cars with human drivers seem to give it a wide berth.

The Lidar sensor (which looks like a rotating siren on top of the car) displayed my initials when it arrived. I unlocked the car with the app (so that others cannot take your vehicle). Once we enter, fasten our seatbelts and settle in, we simply press the start/begin button in the car or on the phone app. The vehicle drives as would any safe driver. It fully stops at stop signs and red lights, signals when turning, and never goes faster than the speed limit. I can adjust the temperature and choose my favorite radio stations (there were numerous K-pop stations, as well as one devoted to BTS).

One funny incident was that the windshield wipers came on while it sprinkled. Clearly this was for our benefit, and not for the autonomous vehicle operator.

The car has numerous safety features visible to the rider. First, there are buttons for you to press if you want the car to pull over or if you want to talk to an operator. There are interior cameras and microphones. The announcer in the car tells the rider that the microphones are not on unless there is an emergency. Cameras are there to monitor the rider -- I assume this is for the safety of the rider but also to monitor whether the customer misbehaves or incurs damage to the vehicle. Just like when we are on the web, Google is watching us.

While the car is driving, the maps (both in the front and back seats) show us outlines of all obstacles. We could not only see roads, cars and pedestrians, but also if someone is walking their dog.

Finally, when we arrived at our destination, the autonomous vehicle looked for a safe place to pull over. This might be in front of our destination, but in San Francisco, it is more likely to be the corner closest to the location or a nearby parking spot. Once it stops, the doors unlock and we can leave the vehicle. The vehicle leaves only after all the car doors are closed. I don’t know where they go if there is no other customer.

It took a lot of convincing, but I managed to talk my mother into riding one with us. She was very reluctant. However, once she was in the vehicle, she was totally sold. The car is new and clean. She’s had very bad experiences with Uber drivers and vehicles, so this experience was much more pleasant. During the first ride, she suddenly said, “I know people are scared of these cars getting into accidents, but people get into car accidents too. This feels safer.” After our roundtrip ride to lunch, she asked whether we could go somewhere else in a Waymo. Indeed, I would rather have my mother ride in these vehicles than drive herself.

Besides, how can anyone resist a ride in an autonomous car with NewJeans’ “How Sweet” on the radio?

Grace Kao

Grace Kao is an IBM professor of sociology and professor of ethnicity, race and migration at Yale University. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. -- Ed.