Spent last weekend in Austin, and one of the highlights – besides Terry Black’s of course – was a ride in a self-driving car. My ride happened to be in a Cybercab, but there were plenty of Waymo’s prowling the streets too. To sum up the ride: it was sort of amazing, and… ordinary!
Amazing because you call the car via an app, and it comes and gets you. No driver. There was a little glitch getting into the car, but a human being connected remotely and cleared things up immediately. You can control the lighting inside the car, play your own music, and watch the display screens as the car navigates through a busy city.
What was ordinary was the ride. No sudden stops, no white-knuckle encounters, no sketchy maneuvers. The car handled a few tough turns and some traffic situations calmly and easily (e.g., turning left across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic into a packed parking lot). Granted the speeds were low because it was city-driving, but nonetheless it was impressive.
It may be a while before self-driving vehicles rule the roads, but you can see the future. The car knew its stuff, and at no point did it feel abnormal. Pretty cool.