Robert Stone and Sheila Zieglowsky aren’t the standard picture of technological early adopters, however the octogenarians have been fast to take up a newly expanded ride-hailing service that makes use of self-driving automobiles.
Waymo, owned by Google father or mother firm Alphabet Inc., already has tons of of automobiles on the street which have collectively logged greater than 1 million miles with simply passengers — no people behind the wheel.
Zeiglowsky advised CBS Information the service is “handy” and “snug.”
Stone, at 83 years previous, mentioned he is “eager about retiring from driving. And that is simply a good way to go.”
Waymo works — and prices — about the identical as an Uber. The ride-hailing service is seen as years forward of its opponents in creating autonomous automobiles.
The self-driving know-how permits the automobiles to see as much as three soccer fields forward and the automobiles have solely had two minor collisions from September 2020 by way of January 2023.
Waymo did acknowledge, nevertheless, that one in every of its automobiles hit and killed a small canine final month.
“The investigation is ongoing, nevertheless the preliminary evaluation confirmed that the system accurately recognized the canine which ran out from behind a parked car however was not capable of keep away from contact,” the corporate advised CBS Information in an announcement. Waymo additionally mentioned {that a} human “autonomous specialist” was within the driver’s seat on the time.
A current survey performed by AAA discovered that 68% of drivers are “afraid” of self-driving automobiles.
Adam Lenz, Waymo’s head of sustainability, mentioned that it could simply be a matter of individuals getting used to it.
“What we have seen is that individuals experiencing the know-how actually results in folks utilizing it extra and having extra belief,” Lenz mentioned.
For now, Waymo’s fleet of absolutely electrical Jaguars are solely working in two cities.
“When you do go to a spot like Phoenix or San Francisco, you may get a style of the longer term,” automotive journalist Tim Stevens mentioned. “However that know-how might not come to your individual residence metropolis for perhaps one other 10 or 15 years or extra.”
Within the meantime, Zeiglowsky and Stone are liking the best way the longer term feels.
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