The Golden Bridge, Coit Tower, Alcatraz, and all of San Francisco are tourist attractions you have no doubt heard of or been to. But what about the newest attraction with no one at the wheel? The New York Times wrote an article titled “San Francisco’s Hot Tourist Attraction: Driverless Cars,” saying driverless cars are the newest must-do activity for visitors to the city.
However, for most living in San Francisco, this “spectacle” has been seen in their neighborhoods for many years. A parade of white Waymo cars moves up and down city streets at all hours of the day and night—initially with safety drivers, then empty with no driver, and eventually with passengers only. San Franciscans have eased into seeing cars with no drivers and now the sight is very normal—very every day. So, it is surprising to learn that tourists to San Francisco are desperate for advice on how to secure a ride in a driverless car while visiting, or even just how to be “well positioned to spot a driverless car on the go.” Why all the hype?
Waymo, the “way forward in mobility,” was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area to revolutionize autonomous driving by making transportation safer, cheaper, and easier to access. The Waymo “driver” has a 360-degree vision system and lidar, a remote sensing technology, to navigate an urban environment.
The first thing most riders notice when hailing a Waymo is that while it feels weird to get into a car with no driver, the car never makes riders feel unsafe. The drive is smooth, with no sudden movements, and since there is a screen to show the route the car is taking—allowing passengers to see what the car “sees”—the car always feels in control. The ability to connect to WI-FI is a nice touch.
Tech is apparent in how the car navigates so many different situations, especially when it gets into a tricky spot with bicycles, pedestrians, buses, or double-parked cars. The electric cars used by Waymo are quiet and clean. The driverless service is more costly than its competitor Uber, especially for short trips, but it is easy to see the tourist appeal.
“It is a little like a Disneyland ride, at least for the first few minutes of your trip,” said Cabot Dick, who has tried Waymo rides.
“I believe Waymo will change the way people travel around the city and be the new Uber across big cities in the U.S.,” said Luke Spalding.
Legendary San Francisco columnist Herb Caen said, “A city is not gauged by its length and width but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams.” Seeing the city through the eyes of a tourist should remind us that San Francisco is indeed a city that dreams big, and we should not take for granted all the wonders it beholds.