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NW IL | This past spring, my family and I were in San Francisco for a few days. While there my two sons (age 14 and 12) and I used Waymo ( https://waymo.com/) as a taxi service. We used an app similar to Uber or Lyft. The prices were similar to Uber. We used the service about 4 times during our trip. Overall I was very impressed with the service and technology. Three instances that I noted:
(1) There was an ambulance approaching us from behind. The car detected it presence (flashing lights or siren?) safely pulled over to the right and allowed the ambulance to pass. Once the ambulance passed the car got back on the road and proceeded with its route.
(2) In one instance, a pedestrian (elderly gentlemen) walked into the crosswalk even thought the intersection had a sign flashing "do not walk". Our car had the green light and clearly had the right of way. The car gently applied the brakes, came to a complete stop, and allowed the pedestrian to walk in front of us. After the man made it to the sidewalk the car continued on its route.
(3) The final (and most notable maneuver) we were driving down a hill on a narrow street. A food delivery truck was parked and blocking the right lane. The truck had its flashers on. The waymo car stopped, slowly pulled to the left (in oncoming traffic) waited for 2 cars to pass in the opposite direction, and then once safe pulled into the opposite lane on the far left (again against traffic) and slowly pulled around the parked food delivery truck.
All of the routes were in town and limited to slower speeds (maybe 35 max??). I felt safe at all times. There were dozens of these cars in San Francisco while we were there. | |
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My thoughts on autonomous driving
