Photo: Waymo / autoevolution edit
Some manufacturers have been promising us driverless vehicles for some time. It’s 2023, and they are still nowhere to be found. Sadly, it does not look like established auto brands will be able to deliver them anytime soon. However, newcomers backed by known carmakers are on the verge of breaking the barrier – to the joy of those who are getting to discover them for the first time.
When Uber arrived, it revolutionized ridesharing and the business of running an international car fleet without owning any vehicle or employing drivers. Understandably, this upset taxi operators, which had higher operational costs opened possibilities for people looking for a side gig and created competition in a heavily regulated and conservative business sector. As a result, the yellow street-hail cabs are turning into an 'endangered species,' as fewer and fewer are spotted across the country.
Now, Uber has rivals of its own and must respect laws or regulations that complicated the original disrupting business plan. Even with these developments, the company still pulled off a pre-tax profit of $756 million in 2022.
Naturally, after authorized taxi drivers have been nearly replaced nationwide by partners (known as independent contractors in legalese) for ridesharing companies, something more interesting and daring had to surface.
Enter (truly) autonomous vehicles (AVs). Companies like the Alphabet-owned Waymo, General Motors-owned Cruise, and Amazon-owned Zoox are transforming everyday vehicles into robotaxis that do not require a human in the driver’s seat or are even creating their own ridesharing vehicle that displays a focus solely on passengers.
For example, Waymo has a prototype, Cruise has Origin, while Zoox has its own toaster-shaped… Ride. Besides that, these up-and-coming entities must also compete with automakers, which are racing to find the best self-driving solution that can be implemented in production vehicles without sacrificing looks and aerodynamics.
But, for the time being, robotaxi operators do it well. No matter what type of vehicle is being used for these driverless rides in some parts of the U.S., the progress is visible and thrilling. Two senior citizens proved it in a video published on a social network and available down below. Because innovation is not only about upsetting people or disrupting certain business sectors, it’s also about surprising consumers with the progress that they have not been expecting. It’s about that sweet element of surprise that may just reinstate the belief that humanity is capable of great things.
The two got inside Waymo’s self-driving all-electric Jaguar I-Pace but not before thinking that it was a police cruiser because of the radars that sit on top of the crossover. The parts were at first confused with police light bars. They also looked at the vehicle’s exterior beforehand and analyzed the add-ons that make the I-Pace’s exterior a tad bit bulkier.
However, once inside, the pair became curious and asked the person filming if they trust the car. But it wasn’t long before they could hardly contain their excitement about not having someone sit behind the steering wheel. One of the seniors even went as far as to say that the AV was capable of handling some traffic situations better than a human.
“I’ll never forget this! Never!” said one of them. They even meet with a yellow taxi and notice that the passenger was looking at the missing driver and started laughing about what that person might have been thinking right at that moment.
One of the senior citizens even gives us another reason why AVs might serve communities well. He said that retirees might enjoy having a vehicle available to come to pick them up from wherever, whenever they might need it without talking too much on the phone or needing to remember specific location details.
Finally, before you press play, it’s worth remembering that Waymo’s AVs have completed over 1 million driverless miles (1.6 million kilometers) with just two crashes and 18 light bumps recorded. Soon, AVs might just be the better option altogether. It will, however, depend on the costs per ride and the reliability of the fleets.
Now, Uber has rivals of its own and must respect laws or regulations that complicated the original disrupting business plan. Even with these developments, the company still pulled off a pre-tax profit of $756 million in 2022.
Naturally, after authorized taxi drivers have been nearly replaced nationwide by partners (known as independent contractors in legalese) for ridesharing companies, something more interesting and daring had to surface.
Enter (truly) autonomous vehicles (AVs). Companies like the Alphabet-owned Waymo, General Motors-owned Cruise, and Amazon-owned Zoox are transforming everyday vehicles into robotaxis that do not require a human in the driver’s seat or are even creating their own ridesharing vehicle that displays a focus solely on passengers.
For example, Waymo has a prototype, Cruise has Origin, while Zoox has its own toaster-shaped… Ride. Besides that, these up-and-coming entities must also compete with automakers, which are racing to find the best self-driving solution that can be implemented in production vehicles without sacrificing looks and aerodynamics.
But, for the time being, robotaxi operators do it well. No matter what type of vehicle is being used for these driverless rides in some parts of the U.S., the progress is visible and thrilling. Two senior citizens proved it in a video published on a social network and available down below. Because innovation is not only about upsetting people or disrupting certain business sectors, it’s also about surprising consumers with the progress that they have not been expecting. It’s about that sweet element of surprise that may just reinstate the belief that humanity is capable of great things.
The two got inside Waymo’s self-driving all-electric Jaguar I-Pace but not before thinking that it was a police cruiser because of the radars that sit on top of the crossover. The parts were at first confused with police light bars. They also looked at the vehicle’s exterior beforehand and analyzed the add-ons that make the I-Pace’s exterior a tad bit bulkier.
However, once inside, the pair became curious and asked the person filming if they trust the car. But it wasn’t long before they could hardly contain their excitement about not having someone sit behind the steering wheel. One of the seniors even went as far as to say that the AV was capable of handling some traffic situations better than a human.
“I’ll never forget this! Never!” said one of them. They even meet with a yellow taxi and notice that the passenger was looking at the missing driver and started laughing about what that person might have been thinking right at that moment.
One of the senior citizens even gives us another reason why AVs might serve communities well. He said that retirees might enjoy having a vehicle available to come to pick them up from wherever, whenever they might need it without talking too much on the phone or needing to remember specific location details.
Finally, before you press play, it’s worth remembering that Waymo’s AVs have completed over 1 million driverless miles (1.6 million kilometers) with just two crashes and 18 light bumps recorded. Soon, AVs might just be the better option altogether. It will, however, depend on the costs per ride and the reliability of the fleets.
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