Joining the Jetsons

As I've been driving around with my mother over the past few days, I kept noticing these cars with weird things on their roofs, so finally asked what they were. It turns out they are Waymos, which are electric self-driving cars that you can hire. The Phoenix area is evidently a test market. They're everywhere. I kind of wanted to try one, so heading to a friend's house for lunch this afternoon seemed the perfect opportunity. 

You download the app and put in your payment info, just like for a ride share. And just like a ride share, you order a car through the app, saying where you want to go. You're told how long it will be for your car to get to you and you can track it on the app. Then your car shows up.


The car will wait for five minutes for you when it arrives. To unlock the door, it connects to your phones Bluetooth. All I had to do was walk up to it and the door unlocked. When you get in, the car greeted you by name and reminds you to fasten your seatbelt, then it gives you a safety briefing. It was a bit unnerving to have no driver behind the wheel.


You can follow along on the map as you traveled. It really did feel perfectly safe.


It was kind of fun. Less expensive than a ride share, but more than I would want to pay on a regular basis. Besides, when else am I ever going to get to travel in a Jaguar? 



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