Several companies are testing autonomous robo-taxis, but no provider is as close to a finished product as Google subsidiary Waymo. Waymo taxis are already operating in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, and are scheduled to launch in Austin, Atlanta, Miami and Tokyo. The C’t 3003 team tested Waymo in detail in Los Angeles with several trips.
Advertisement
Video transcript
(Note: This transcript is for those who cannot or do not wish to watch the video above. The text does not reflect all of the information on the image track.)
Look here, I’m here in Los Angeles and standing on the street corner and I’m going to order a robo-taxi for the first time in my life. So I’ll just press the button here in the Waymo app and a car will go away without anyone sitting there. And I have to be honest: I find this extremely exciting because I believe this is a technology that will truly change society.
Waymo is actually the first company where it’s not just a model experiment, but they’re actually doing it now. They’re in Los Angeles, they’re in San Francisco, they’re in Phoenix, they’ll soon be in Austin, Miami and Tokyo. That’s why they are serious. You don’t need to sign up for the waiting list, you can simply download the app. And then – supposedly – a robo-taxi arrives.
We want to try it now. We’ll see how it feels. So my first reactions to this. And we see how safe it really is. We bought something for this that we’ll just put in front of the tire. And let’s see: what goes beyond this? Or does it check it? And of course very important for all of us: are you really allowed to be naked there? Stay tuned.
Dear hackers, dear internet surfers, welcome here…
(20 minute untranscribed video test)
So to think about my conclusion, I went to a quiet place in my little rental car and thought about Waymo and what it really means. I’m definitely impressed with how smoothly this car drives. And the car really – there’s no other way to say it – drives like a scalded pig at times.
Even small streets are heated as if driven by a taxi driver who has been doing this for 30 years. That’s how this thing feels. I also found it extremely surprising that obstacles – anyway – but especially people, are detected by the entire sensor system.
The entire sensor system is actually able to see people standing at the doors which I could not identify with the naked eye. You can also see what the car sees on these displays. I always felt very safe. So the thing works – even though we noticed that when we placed this stuffed animal in front of the tires, the car just ran over it. But the thing is: this thing seems to be able to recognize living beings.
We’ll just assume it’s smart enough to say, “It’s just a stupid stuffed animal, I can drive over it.” It’s not a little kid or a cat or anything. You have to try it with a living thing. And for obvious reasons we couldn’t attempt it.
So it works. Of course, we still have the big issue of data security: who sees these images that the multiple cameras inside take? We tried driving there naked – nothing happened. We touched the steering wheel, we did a little nonsense – nothing happened.
But it’s still a weird feeling knowing that cameras are pointed at you. Who knows, who’s watching? Waymo itself says that by default you only see the blurred image and can only switch if you have a reason to look there. But only Waymo knows for sure.
But the important thing about the whole story is this: What is it that actually has functioning autonomous cars that are currently very expensive, but are now actually running in many American cities? What benefit does the world get from this?
I don’t want to speculate too much here, but in any case, autonomous cars have the potential to change the real world. I am absolutely sure of this. I see these things: For example, women who are afraid to order a taxi, Uber or Lyft because they may fear the drivers will be abusive. Now you have no problem.
You also have this thing that, theoretically, you can have a car – a personal car – which, when I’m in the office, can drive me around for eight hours and run around random people. So that time can be utilized more wisely.
We know that cars, especially private cars, remain parked most of the time. But most of all, it has the potential to be able to offer flat rate mobility to companies like Google.
This means: I write appointments in the calendar and I don’t have to worry about anything. I will be picked up and taken there right now. Perhaps I would be taken to the train station and then a ticket would be booked for me immediately, and so on.
It’s truly amazing that this can happen. That my mobility can be controlled without human assistance. Of course, any job that has anything to do with driving – they probably won’t last that long.
What effect does this actually have on cars in cities? Will there be fewer cars because people say, “Well, now there are these autonomous taxis – I’ll get rid of my car”? Will this mean that there are fewer private cars?
I don’t know this. But there is definitely a lot of potential there. And I’m very excited to see what the future holds.
It was definitely a very interesting experience for me. And we’re going to talk about autonomous cars…we’re going to hear a lot more about that.
Yes, so how do you see it? I’ve talked to friends and family about driving a self-driving car. A lot of people said: “Oh, I won’t get into this, it’s a really weird feeling.”
will you do that? How do you assess ability? So, we’re really interested, because you’ve already seen from my conclusion that of course I don’t know what would happen to the world if we had autonomous cars now.
But in any case, autonomous cars are now ready for the market. Whether they can work cost-effectively is still in question because they – at least Wemos – are extremely expensive. How do you see it? Feel free to write in the comments. And feel free to subscribe. goodbye!
3003 no This is not a YouTube channel. The videos on C’T 3003 are independent content and are independent from the articles in C’T magazine. Editors Jan-Keno Janssen, Lucas Rumpler, Sahin Erengil and Pascal Cheve publish a video every week.
(JKJ)
