Digital Skills Education

In Los Angeles, you imagine celebrities being chauffeured around in limousines with blacked-out windows. But apparently there’s now an even more glamorous way to travel around LA: get rid of the chauffeur altogether.

Alongside the usual taxis and Ubers, you can book a Waymo – a fully autonomous, self-driving car.

My first driverless journey

I’d seen the bright white cars cruising around the city and couldn’t stop staring at them. There’s something very strange about watching a car stop at the traffic lights with nobody sitting in the driver’s seat. Then again, this is Los Angeles, where you might walk past Spider-Man eating an In-N-Out burger on Hollywood Boulevard.

I knew I had to have a go, so I used the app to order a Waymo for a short 20 minute journey to a shopping mall.

Moments later, my robot taxi arrived. My initials appeared on a screen on top of the car, so I knew it was mine. Finally, my name in lights!

I half expected a robot chauffeur to jump out and open the door for me, but apparently we’re not quite there yet.

I climbed in and fastened my seat belt (double checking it just to be sure!)

The car was playing soothing music when I got in. I assume this was supposed to keep nervous first time passengers calm. I immediately switched it to my Spotify playlist. If I was going to put my life in the hands of a robot, I was at least going to listen to Britney while I did it.

I pressed the big “Start ride” button. The steering wheel spun, and we pulled into the road.

What was the journey actually like?

As we accelerated, I became very aware that nobody was behind the wheel.

Travelling in a driverless car has to be one of the maddest things I have ever done.

I even waved to a passenger in another Waymo as we passed. They waved back. There was something very funny about acknowledging that we were both being driven around with no drivers.

To make the journey smooth the car is packed with cameras and other sensors, including lidar and radar, which help it build a detailed picture of what is happening around it. There are sensors on the roof and around the front, back and sides of the car, allowing it to detect things that a human driver might easily miss.

A screen inside showed me some of what the car could ‘see’. I could see pedestrians, other vehicles and, naturally, a Beverly Hills chihuahua.

It was fascinating to watch, and I could imagine similar technology helping human drivers spot dangers.

What could possibly go wrong?!

At one point, the Waymo struggled while leaving a car park. Another driver was trying to squeeze in past us, while the Waymo wanted to move into the road. I could almost sense the Waymo thinking, “Why are they so close?? I better hold back”?”

It carefully tried to work out how to navigate around the other car. Later, I passed the same car park and noticed that it was actually a one-way exit. The other driver shouldn’t have been trying to enter that way in the first place.

So, in this case, the problem wasn’t the technology. It was an unpredictable human driver.

Could it replace a human taxi driver?

I wanted to know what LA Uber drivers thought of their robotic competitors. They said they could be frustrating, particularly when one decided to stop in the middle of the road. But they didn’t seem to feel particularly threatened, the number of Waymos is only a fraction of the huge numbers of cars on the road in LA, and for a city where everyone drives everywhere there seemed to be enough passengers to go around.

I don’t think I’d want to switch away from humans completely either. I liked chatting with my drivers, hearing their stories and getting recommendations for places to visit. That human interaction is something a driverless car could never replace.

But sometimes, you might not feel like socialising. Inside the Waymo, it felt as though I had my own car. I could play my music, sing as loudly as I wanted and enjoy the journey without having to make conversation.

On a serious note, having no driver might make some passengers feel safer. I thought about those more vulnerable moments when women are travelling alone, or coming home after a night out. But then again, if something goes wrong in a robot taxi, you could be left stuck somewhere completely by yourself.

Next stop, Scotland?

Driverless cars are being tested in London, so I don’t think it will be too long before we start seeing more of them in the UK.

Will they be as popular here, where we already have so many good public transport options? And how will they fare with Scotland’s windy and bumpiest roads in hail and blizzards?

As I got out, I couldn’t help but say “thanks” to my robot driver. I closed the door and watched it drive away a few seconds later, off on its next adventure.

Kirstie