No biggie. No one’s driving your taxi. I don’t mean it’s parked at the curb, and the cab driver is out of service. There is no cab driver. Your taxi is an autonomous vehicle and the driver’s seat is empty. This driverless sight is as common as a cable car in San Francisco. Meet Waymo.
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Zip here, and there, the Waymo driverless cars are everywhere on Lombard Street, along Fisherman’s Wharf and throughout San Francisco, adjacent to Silicon Valley and all things techy. Robocars are coming to a number of urban cities on the West Coast and beyond with multiple companies in play.
Driverless Robocar is Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile
Of course, the robocar is not new and neither is the sight and absence of sound where Waymo wanders. San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Las Vegas are in varying stages of this driverless revolution, but still, it’s an eye-catcher for non-west coasters. Waymo is a Google-conceived company that now partners with Uber. If you’ve scheduled an Uber or Lyft ride share on a phone app, you can tell Waymo where to pick you up. A Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicle is likely around the corner and heading your way.
Driverless App Skills
Here’s the thing. You’d better be adept at navigating the app. Our story turns on app control… a few lines down. The Waymo app is slick and simple at the same time. Set up your profile, payment and details. Schedule a pick-up and include your destination. Waymo will show you on-screen when and where to meet. A GPS map will guide you to the location that may be a short distance walk. This was our undoing. Let me explain.
Hello Waymo Goodbye
Fascinated by the driverless cars circling around us as we traversed San Francisco, I set up the Waymo app and was certain all was ready for a last night driverless ride back to our hotel. We walked to Oracle Park for an evening baseball game and would leave a couple of innings early to avoid the rush. My cell phone battery was in the red, so I turned it off in the 4th inning to save power for our Waymo trip. Should have turned it off in the 1st.
Outside the ballpark, I turn on the phone, accessed the app and was all set for pick-up… a few blocks from Oracle Park. Waymo instructed us to walk 5 or 6 blocks, not wanting to venture too close to a rush of ballpark pedestrians… or so I assume.
Battery Brain Lapse
We follow the map, walk a few minutes, and position ourselves curbside for pick-up. Here comes the Waymo Jaquar right on time, stopping exactly in front of us, displaying my initials in neon atop the SUV. Next up we’ll unlock the vehicle via the app. As we step to the waiting car ready for our first driverless ride, suddenly, my screen goes dark. With a no-option dread, I know my phone battery is dead. “Try the door,” I encourage my wife. Waymo is locked, not loaded, and ticking off two minutes before departure.
Driverless Waymo is Smart but Can’t Fix Dumb
I restart the phone, but it dies in my hands a second time. As advertised, the white driverless robocar motors off on schedule and the mess-up is on me. We are city savvy but left at the curb in the dark on some street next to some club somewhere near the Bay City waterfront… none of which is working well for my better half. We end up walking past some late-night revelers near a bus station… but did find our way to an old school cabbie who saved the night.
The obvious moral of the story is to be at least equal to the technology when you travel. Phones need batteries. The GPS walk to the pick-up place zapped my phone juice. Waymo sent a sorry note and only charged us 5 bucks.
Leaving town the next morning, we had yet to enjoy our first driverless journey. I’ll do better next time. As Detective Harry Callahan of San Francisco movie fame would say… a man’s got to know his limitations.
Travel well, friend.
