In the autumn, I visited a cousin in Scottsdale. While driving around, I noticed a lot of futuristic, pimped-out, black and white electric cars with strange spinners mounted on their roofs and sides — but without drivers. I was confused. Later, I asked my cousin about them and she explained they were driverless taxis. She hadn’t ridden in one. In mid-December, I returned to the Phoenix area to visit an uncle. While walking from dinner back to my hotel, I watched three men exit another hotel and hop into a Waymo, the driverless taxi. I was intrigued.
I returned to my hotel and began researching. Waymo only existed in greater Phoenix and greater San Francisco. Ideal weather and driving conditions. Large enough populations to justify the technology and costs. The vehicles only traveled on main roads, not highways. The futuristic, pimped-out car was actually a Jaguar. Comparable pricing to Uber and Lyft but without a driver to tip. I vowed to experience Waymo for myself.
After a nightcap at the hotel bar, I installed the Waymo app and watched a few videos. I was geeked.
The plan was to Waymo to and from my uncle’s apartment the following evening. I could avoid driving in rush hour in Tempe/Scottsdale/Phoenix. I could look out the window and enjoy the views.
Well, some views were less than desirable. Instead of cruising along on the highway, my not-driver and I zigzagged through the ghettos of Phoenix. Initially called the Google Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo used Google Maps. You know in Google Maps when you want to drag the little person to a Street View but can’t? Waymo can only drive in places that the Google Maps car has photographed for Street View. For example, Waymo couldn’t enter the parking lot of my uncle’s apartment complex. (The parking lot doesn’t light up blue on Google Maps, indicating the ability to drop the little person there for a Street View.) So instead, my not-driver dropped me off in the alley behind the dry cleaner’s next to my uncle’s complex and picked me up in the neighborhood across the street. Definitely not an inconvenience. I mean, c’mon. The car DRIVES ITSELF. It can have a pass for getting confused by a parking lot.
But for the actual ride… wowza. The technology was crazy cool. My initials were illuminated atop the Jaguar, so I would know which Waymo was mine, should there be a throng of them near my pickup spot. To thwart anyone else from stealing my ride, I unlocked the car doors from the Waymo app on my phone. The flush handles popped out, I pulled and got in. “Welcome, Mike!” the computer voice greeted me. Similar to riding on an airplane, there was a recorded safety message. The spinning sensors mounted on the outside of the car were constantly scanning our surroundings. Two large screens inside showed an illustrated, real-time aerial view of the Waymo, White, rounded rectangles represented all the vehicles and cyclists on the road around us. The not-driver couldn’t drive faster than the speed limit (which would make passing on the highway challenging).
Riding in a Waymo was awesome. I felt like I was living in the future or an episode of “Westworld.” I laughed a lot - out of pure amazement - but I was never in fear of getting into an accident. The next time I’m in the Phoenix area, I’ll be riding in Waymos again.
Here are some other sights from Tempe/Phoenix/Scottsdale: the ASU campus, the balcony view from my hotel room, night spotlights and a gothic Christmas display at Nordstrom.
