This summer in California, passersby on the streets of San Francisco can be divided into two groups: Locals all too familiar with cars moving without drivers, or tourists enthralled with their phones capturing the fun moments with those self-driving cars.
A driverless car moves on a street in the US. Photo: AFP
Katherine Allen climbed into a white Jaguar, which then carefully maneuvered into traffic in a busy neighborhood filled with pedestrians and cyclists.
The 37-year-old lawyer has been volunteering to test Waymo's self-driving taxis since late 2021. At first, a company employee was always there to take the wheel if needed.
And then one day, the car came to pick her up without a chaperone. “I was really nervous the first time, but not so nervous that I didn’t want to go. I was also excited,” she said.
“For two-thirds of the way, maybe the first 20 minutes, I was really nervous and then suddenly it felt normal, it was weird..!”, Katherine said.
The vehicles in San Francisco are operated by Waymo and Cruise, which are owned by General Motors, and earlier this summer both operators received permission from California regulators to operate 24/7 throughout the city except on freeways.
This makes San Francisco the first major city to have two fully operational driverless car fleets.
Still, local authorities have ordered Cruise to halve its fleet in San Francisco (to 50 vehicles operating during the day and 150 at night) while it investigates two crashes that occurred last week, including one with a fire truck.
Even in this tech-crazed city, self-driving taxis remain a divisive issue.
Environmental activists criticise them for perpetuating the dominance of private cars, while disabled people's associations say they are inadequate to meet their needs and unions fear job losses.
Mai Van (according to AFP, CNA)
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