A resident who was kept up all night by robotaxis honking their horns decided to spend 24 hours in one to see how good they are.
YouTuber Sophia Tung was one of a number of residents who endured sleepless nights after robotaxi operator Waymo opened a depot next to their apartments in San Fransisco. At first, things went smoothly, but a safety update saw residents endure hours of driverless cars honking at each other throughout the night.
Free rides
Waymo quickly fixed the issue and apologised to residents, offering them free rides as a way of making things up to them.
Sophia, who runs a popular YouTube livestream of the comings and goings at the depot next to her building, has also spoken with senior Waymo officials about the teething problems.
To see how good the self-driving cabs are, she decided to use her last code for a free ride to undertake a marathon 24-hour tour around the city – with it ending when her time was up, or the vehicle ran out of battery.
Starting at 6am, she booked a charged Waymo from the depot next to her building before visiting different landmarks and attractions around the city.
As she got into the car – a Jaguar I-Pace which has a steering wheel, mirrors and pedals – a friendly automated voice said: “Hey Sophia” and welcomed her into the cab. It also reassured her that if she had any problems she should press a button which will connect her to a member of the support team.
Tourist attractions
The trip, which Sophia filmed, began with a visit to the elevated Twin Peaks beauty spot to enjoy the sunrise. The ride is smooth and safe, although it is strange to see the steering wheel turning by itself.
As they headed to the next destination of Tunnel Top Parks and Fisherman’s Wharf, Sopha began to worry about the amount of charge left. After just 90 minutes, it had dropped from 78% to 55%-60% and range anxiety continues to worry Sophia for the rest of the trip.
She said: “These things might not last as long as I initially predicted, which was already pretty low … I thought we would be able to go at least 12 hours, but maybe not.”
As the journey continues, Sophia decides to change her Chic-fil-a meal destination in the evening to lunchtime instead, although she is jokingly disappointed that it wouldn’t go through the drive-through.
Performance
As she changes the schedule of her trip, the car turns into a dead end and Sophia presses the button to connect to the control centre. But before anyone has time to respond, the vehicle turns itself around and heads in the right direction.
Sophia said: “Wow, perfect! Nice! I called out to the centre, but it didn’t need an intervention at all.”
As well as having no one to talk to during such a long journey, Sophia was also starting to feel uncomfortable.
Yawning, she said: “I was about four hours into the ride and getting really tired of being constantly jostled around in the car.”
She called her friend, fellow YouTuber and Waymo aficionado Kevin Chen, to join her for the rest of the trip.
Out of range
As she checks the battery level 50 minutes later, she discovers the vehicle has 61 miles of charge remaining – with 19 hours of her challenge left.
And after six hours and seven minutes, Sophia said: “I think it’s over. I can no longer edit the trips. The car says it needs to be charged and it has about 30 miles left.”
As the Waymo began the 30-minute journey back to the depot, Sophia summed up her trip.
She said: “The Waymo drove near flawlessly, certainly better than I could. This absolutely wild technology feels so futuristic, yet it exists here and now and could alter our society that’s become so beholden to a dangerous activity like driving.
“What started out as a 24-hour challenge that ended 17-and-a-half hours early had turned into an experience I won’t soon forget and has made me a believer.”
It was an interesting challenge which demonstrated the pros and cons of robotaxis. While the technology provides a safe and relatively comfortable ride, passengers miss out of the human interaction, from conversation to any assistance they might need.
While six-and-a-half hours in the back of any car would be enough for most people, if Sophia had been able to remain for longer, the range and limited charging availability for the cars would have brough it to an end anyway.
