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| A cool logo puddle light projected to the ground from the open back door of our Tesla Robotaxi. |
Back in September, I took my first two Waymo rides in Dallas. Since I'm not known for embracing what's new and different, I was surprised over how enjoyable and drama-free they were.
If you're not (yet) familiar with Waymo, it's one of the major autonomous taxi companies currently operating in major cities across the United States. "Autonomous" means there's no literal human driver - instead, complex technologies evaluate data from a variety of onboard gadgets to guide passenger vehicles along the same city streets human beings are still driving their vehicles.
And yes, to a lot of people, that sounds spooky right off the bat. No human driver? How could a person trust computers to make all of the calculations necessary to navigate conventional urban traffic alongside "real" drivers?
I used to be a deep skeptic of autonomous vehicles. But then a close friend asked me, in light of how rapidly driver courtesy and competency are eroding in our modern society, would I really rather trust a distracted and undisciplined human driver, or a "rational" computer?
And frankly, my friend has a sobering point. Right? I mean, admit it: Hopefully you've never driven drunk, but when was the last time you texted behind the wheel? Or repeatedly barked words into a speaker on your dashboard trying to avoid sending a garbled text while driving? Meanwhile, autonomous vehicles use sensors, lasers, and software that constantly, incessantly, and in redundant ways monitor everything around them, from traffic lights to pedestrians, to counting the number of vehicles around them, and depicting their real-time positions, sizes, and movements. Frankly, watching your driving reality play out digitally - and concurrently! - across their on-board screens is amazing.
Not that I'm utterly sold on all autonomous platforms. While human beings aren't perfect, neither is technology. Yes, as far as I can understand it, platforms like Waymo's seem to have a safety edge because of advanced systems like LiDAR. LiDAR stands for "light detection and ranging" and involves laser beams which create instant three-dimensional digital depictions of surrounding objects. LiDAR combines with cameras and other sensors to "visualize" the literal physical environment through which the vehicle is traveling, similar to how human eyes operate.
There's a certain amount of trust humans have to deploy in such technology, isn't there? Early-adopter technology aficionados tend to be more generous in such trust, but even after watching autonomous vehicles in real time on real Dallas streets, I have been impressed. And while some futurists may scoff at capitalistic economic models, what's helping to shape the safety factor for autonomous vehicles seems to be the industry's ambitious competition. Competition for profit. Winners in the autonomous vehicle race will inevitably be those with the safest vehicles, right?
How can a manufacturer survive with autonomous vehicles nobody feels safe riding?
To that end, witness Tesla's Robotaxi and Cybercab concepts. Indeed, the competition for viability isn't just between human and autonomous drivers anymore, but within the autonomous vehicle industry itself, with companies like Zoox and Avride also in the fray.
Austin, our state capital, recently saw Tesla's Cybercab launch its signature two-seater gold-plastic autonomous coupes, with no rear window, no side mirrors, and - get this! - no steering wheel whatsoever! Experts seem divided over its initial success, and our government isn't happy about its lack of mirrors and rear windows - not because of safety concerns, but because our motor vehicle laws are being rendered archaic in the face of rapid autonomous technologies. You see, each Cybercab reportedly has eight exterior cameras and one interior camera to swath the vehicle with constant monitoring. Personally, I have issues with such a significant invasion of privacy, but the utter novelty of such digital surveillance means hardly anybody is grappling with all of their ancillary implications. It may be that society will eventually realize how much privacy we're sacrificing and decide the trade-off isn't worth it. But for now, technology is winning out over privacy in all facets of life, not just autonomous vehicles.
Back here in Dallas, human-supervised Cybercabs already prowl city streets, but they're not yet for hire. Instead, Tesla offers Robotaxis using retrofitted Model Y four-door electric SUVs. They feature different technical redundancies than Waymo does, and parsing out safety data between these two major players remains a work in progress. Nevertheless, while after my Waymo research I remained dubious of Tesla's efforts, it seemed inevitable that eventually, a comparison would have to be made.
At least, if I was going to be fair about deciding between the two companies.
So last week, my Waymo friend and I tried Robotaxi. Like me, he'd never been in a Robotaxi. And here's how it went.
The first difference was immediate and in our favor: Waymo charges for the very first ride, but Robotaxi doesn't - at least currently, in the Dallas market. So: Yay, us!
The second difference immediately followed the first: We had to walk an extra block to access Robotaxi's designated pick-up point. Unless you actually live at a major intersection, it seems both apps make you walk to a point that is convenient for their vehicle, not necessarily their passengers. A very light rain was falling that night, yet for the sake of scientific research (!) we braved the weather anyway. However, I admit I grumbled a bit more than was necessary about that extra 1-block hike.
While Robotaxi's app seems to be as user-friendly as Waymo's, Robotaxi's provides prompts that suggested we could update pick-up points. So I kept tapping them, thinking it would nudge our Tesla closer to where we were. My friend found my pettiness annoying, but hey - if it was pouring rain, we'd have wanted to save the extra hike in the weather, right?
(Afterwards, on our walk back to his apartment alongside Dallas' reckless human drivers, he did admit it would be ironic if we got hit by a traditional car after being forced to make up the extra distance from our autonomous vehicle's preferred drop-off point!)
Our Model Y silently glided up to us in a small parking lot along Lemmon Avenue and automatically unlocked its doors (our Waymos provided a prompt in their app for us to do it when we were ready). If you're not used to Teslas, which have door handles one has to press to activate (they pop out of the sheet metal for use, but then retract to be flush with the rest of the door for aerodynamic reasons), it takes a second to figure out how to open the door.
Our Robotaxi's multiple exterior cameras included an obvious one inside the B-pillar between the doors that seemed to focus on my face each time I entered. Although that could have purely been my overactive imagination at work, it's still a reminder that there's absolutely no personal privacy with autonomous vehicles.
Again, ostensibly for the sake of scientific accuracy, we decided to go to the same restaurant as during our Waymo rides. And while I've read of some riders reporting strange routes especially with their Tesla AVs, our trips to and from the restaurant were relatively straightforward.
Considering Dallas' pock-marked streets, our Tesla was elegantly quiet except for strange episodes of a whirring sound coming from the empty space behind our back seat. Speaking of rear windows, we first wondered if the sound came from the motor for a rear-window windshield wiper in the drizzle, but no; the wiper was still.*
We could have selected some music or even chatted with Grok, the on-board Musk-inspired AI language. Instead, perhaps to revel in our ride's hushed ambiance, or maybe out of habit when so much silence surrounds people, my friend and I tended to converse in whispers. And I hope he was pleased that I refrained from offering instructions to our computer driver like I did in our first Waymo trip.
And yeah - about that turn-signal on Oak Lawn... our Tesla knew the difference between a street curving left and making a left-hand turn, and did NOT signal when we were waiting for the light at Blackburn (check out my Waymo essay for context).
We got to our restaurant without going through the back way - another point in Tesla's favor - although we had to cross oncoming traffic to enter the restaurant. But for my friend and me, especially in comparison with Waymo, the difference seems to be a six-of-one, half-a-dozen-of-the-other thing.
Our ride home was more direct that our Waymo's was, with no curious (albeit interesting) side route through quiet residential streets. And we got dropped off almost precisely at the same literal spot as we were picked up.
Oddly enough, both rides ended on my app with a tip screen... Yes, you read that correctly: Robotaxi wanted us to tip it. I asked my friend if I should, and he was as puzzled as I: "Why would anyone tip an app?!"
And I have to add: When we pulled into the complex of office towers, boutiques, and restaurants where we were to dine, I saw an empty Waymo idling in a parking space like any ordinary car, and I felt a quick pang of remorse: Waymo caught us cheating in a Robotaxi!
Fortunately, our Tesla didn't drop us off next to it.
If it matters, Waymo, I still think you have the edge, although I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it's just because you were my first autonomous ride.
My friend and I both agreed that all things considered, the Robotaxi was a boring experience. And we both also agreed that in reality, that's the way we want our urban rides to be! We got safely where we wanted to go in a reasonable amount of time, with considerable comfort, and no drama.
For the record: 1.8 miles (return trip) in 7 minutes for $8.85... and NO tip!
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