Uber self-driving taxi experienced
Uber’s foray into self-driving cars is gathering momentum, thanks to a major partnership with a tech giant.
On the Road
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We’re rapidly accelerating to 60km/h, I see a red light and traffic ahead and – my God – there’s no driver!
It’s your typical Hollywood disaster scene, but I’m not screaming, nor heroically diving into the driver’s seat saving the day.
That’s because I’ve already handed over trust and driving duties to a computer.
This is a Waymo driverless car, a fully autonomous vehicle (AV) circulating a 60-kilometre radius in Austin, Texas.
Not in its own segregated AV lane, but in everyday traffic alongside cars, trucks, buses, bikes, pedestrians and road furniture.
And, on first leap-of-faith try, doing a smoother job than the human Uber driver who took me to Brisbane airport yesterday.
I’m incredibly surprised, and a mite disturbed, how quickly I’ve put my life in the hands of a machine.
I’ve ordered this driverless car in Texas using my Uber app, as simply as I’d request a flesh-and-bones human in a Toyota Camry.
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Uber has partnered with Waymo, the AV pioneer developed at massive expense by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
Waymo’s hyper-smart LiDAR sensors, cameras and radars are fitted to Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs, helping create a 3D map of surroundings, detect objects and navigate city streets to make self-driving possible.
These add-ons don’t help the Jag’s looks – especially with its roof-mounted flying saucer – but makes them distinctive. The kit will next be fitted to a fleet of Hyundai Ioniq 5s.
Would you be prepared to try one?
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From my Uber app, I request a ride to my downtown Austin hotel. I’m offered the driverless Waymo (for the same price as a human-driven Uber), or can reject it and go the old-fashioned way.
Bravely, I choose the future.
The funny looking Jaguar soon arrives, neatly pulling up with no soul on board. A light flashes my initials (showing it’s for me), and only I can unlock it by pressing a button on my Uber app.
I clamber in the back, and almost say “Hey, mate” to a driver who isn’t there. This Uber welcomes me by name, and a soothing voice reminds me to buckle up. A screen lets me start the ride, choose my music and set the climate. I’m reminded there are cameras in the cabin (so no funny business, you hear), but nothing recording audio, so karaoke your heart out.
A ghost in the machine turns the steering wheel, and we’re steadily away. Then, surprisingly, there’s confident, speedy acceleration.
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The systems notice a car pulling up to a side junction, and we reduce speed just in case. A driving examiner would give a respectful nod here.
Its overly-cautious through a roundabout, but the Waymo doesn’t slow when crossing a raised railway track – you or I would naturally lift off the throttle.
In three minutes I’m totally at ease. I’ve got faith in this pilot-free taxi as it’s reading the roads, and traffic, superbly.
As a tourist, I miss gleaning local knowledge from a “real” Uber or taxi driver. But there’s potential for these driverless cars to add layers more engagement, if requested.
And, blessedly, it won’t be like the creepy humanoid Johnnycab drivers in autonomous taxis in the film Total Recall. Our Waymo AV has an empty driver’s seat, and no, you can’t sit there or grab the steering wheel or the car stops.
Advantages? Unlike humans, driverless cars don’t get distracted, drink drive, act inappropriately, need toilet or food breaks, or suffer road rage. Data shows they’re less likely to be in at-fault accidents.
For Uber, there’s no driver to pay, nor will an AV grumble about salary and working conditions.
I asked a few Austin Uber drivers their thoughts, and most accepted this technology is the future, but there’ll always (they think) be a call for a real person in many driving circumstances. “We replaced taxi drivers, after all,” one offered.
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Reality is, these Waymos feel made for Austin’s wide, non-congested streets. If you’re the sort of person who picks supermarket self-check-outs over manned ones, I reckon you’ll quickly favour your own personal autonomous taxi.
I ask Uber’s senior vice president of mobility, Andrew Macdonald, what’s the endgame here. Will machine replace man?
“We’re taking on individual car ownership,” he said. “If you can make mobility as a service a better solution for consumers than owning an individual car that sits in your driveway 98 per cent of the time, under-utilised, that’s the endgame.”
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A future without car ownership? That’d certainly help the family budget, and there’s an argument that cheaper operational costs (no driver, vehicles can work 24/7 apart from recharging) would drop costs of riding in Ubers.
Is Australia ready? Uber Waymos are in Phoenix, Austin and soon Atlanta, while Waymo independently operates robotaxis in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
It’s happened quickly.
‘We’re engaged with the right regulators in Australia,” said Macdonald. “Historically it’s a market that’s led the way for us on new products.”
But Australia has no AV partner like a Waymo. At least not yet. “We keep those confidential until it’s public,” Macdonald added. “You can imagine there’s interest from European and North American players, but there’s a lot of innovation happening in China on AVs. That’s a potential path for us.”
Driverless taxis on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne? It’s probably closer – and more impressive – than you’d dare believe.
Originally published as Uber self-driving taxi experienced
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