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@ k00b
2025-03-05 20:17:49
A few months ago, an Uber driver alerted me to [the presence of his rival](https://stacker.news/items/687682/r/k00b?commentId=688882). By that point, [Waymo had been testing in Austin](https://waymo.com/blog/2023/08/waymo-one-heads-to-austin/) for over a year. I hid my excitement during the ride but I applied as a beta tester, noting my belonging to the demographics a PM might test for. My application went ignored until, huzzah, Waymo sent me an email yesterday announcing [their self-driving cars are available directly through Uber in Austin](https://waymo.com/waymo-on-uber/).
I configured my allegiance to our new overlords swearing in on my screened sandwich of silicon.
Without willing it, and having forgot my new religion, I woke earlier than planned today and hailed a ride. The app spoke to me, "if you wait 3 minutes longer, we'll send you a car without a driver." For five minutes, I watched a car but not a driver move in the direction of me and my screen.
The ride was nice. I didn't have to theatrically rush to a waiting human. There was less social weirdness than I would normally sit with on a ride. I could inspect the car without risking the driver sense that I'm inspecting them. The car couldn't look at me buffering, deciphering if I am homeless or merely look it. I got to pick my own music. I got to watch people un-contacted by Waymo watch the car.
But ... it drove a lot more like a robot driving a car than a human driving a car. It pumped the brakes a few times as we passed weirdly parked cars uncertain (apparently) if the car might move into our lane. Once it signaled that we were headed into oncoming traffic as a street widened from one lane to two. Worst of all, it dropped me off near an anomalous stretch of sidewalk where my door opened to a wall, and if I were to climb and get out the other side, I'd arrive in the middle lane of a busy street. Trapped, I pinched myself through the door and, like Laura Croft, navigated the road's edge to a sidewalk.
tbh I'm still excited for my next Waymo ride. I'll just choose a different drop-off address.
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/904830