My First Ride in a Driverless Car: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
It started innocently enough.
My boss sent a calendar invite for a field trip/lunch.
I didn't question it. I trust him. So I accepted. Field Trip! Sounds fun! I don’t even need to know where we’re going. I was just happy nobody said “conference room.”
I found out there were only three of us going, and the field trip involved something I had never done before:
Riding in a Waymo.
A car. With no driver. What could possibly go wrong? I've seen them driving around all over the place but had never been in one.
As our outing began, we headed outside and stood on the sidewalk waiting for our little robot chauffeur to arrive. There it was, coming down the street toward us.
Our Waymo!
I felt a little excited as it approached. And then I watched as it kept going. Right past us.
Apparently our relationship was moving a little too fast and it needed some space.
Eventually it stopped and waited for us and we and climbed inside. I guess it didn't understand where the entrance to our building actually was.
I must say, the whole thing was pretty cool. There is something slightly surreal about sitting in the back seat of a car, looking toward the front, and seeing an empty driver’s seat. But the steering wheel is still turning.
No hands on the wheel. No human making questionable decisions or letting us ask questions or make recommendations. That part was kind of weird.
Just a computer making questionable decisions. And apparently, we were part of the entertainment.
As we were driving through downtown, the tourists kept watching us go by. Heads turned. People stared. I imagine they were trying to figure out why three perfectly normal adults were happily riding around in a car with absolutely nobody behind the wheel.
I felt a little like we were in a parade. I had to remind myself that all cities don't have these so a lot of people have not seen them before.
We made it to our lunch destination. Sort of. Waymo apparently decided the most direct route would deprive us of valuable bonding time, so it took us the long way.
That part was fine. We were on a field trip and had nowhere better to be.
Then we got close to our destination.
The road split—one direction went left into oncoming traffic, the other went right, and in the middle was a curb. Our Waymo approached the split and suddenly seemed to have what I can only describe as an emotional crisis. You could actually feel the confusion in the car.
Right?
Left?
Curb?
For a brief moment, I think all three of us wondered whether our field trip was about to include off-roading. Especially Chad since he was in the front seat!
I wanted to lean forward and say, “You’ve got this, little buddy.”
Thankfully, Waymo collected itself, chose an actual road, and delivered us to lunch.
We ate, laughed about our adventure, and then ordered another Waymo to take us back to the office.
Surely we’d gotten all the excitement out of the way. Nope!
Waymo #2 apparently looked at the three of us and thought:
Tourists.
Instead of simply taking us back to the office, it decided we needed to see Nashville.
And Nashville we saw. Street after street. Building after building.
At some point I started thinking we were going to stop at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Just when I thought we couldn't have more of a story - along came another experience.
We were driving through a construction area where a worker was standing on the other side of the street holding one of those signs that says SLOW on one side and STOP on the other.
He turned the sign.
STOP was now facing our Waymo.
Again, let me emphasize: He was controlling traffic on the OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET.
But our Waymo saw STOP. Our Waymo stopped. Immediately.
I have never seen anything so obedient in my life.
Apparently AI has not yet mastered the art of looking at a stop sign and thinking:
“Pretty sure that doesn’t apply to me.”
Eventually, it figured things out and continued our grand tour.
Then, just when I had decided our Waymo might actually be a little too cautious, it apparently decided it had something to prove.
We were almost back to the office and needed to make a left turn across oncoming traffic.
This time, our overly polite, stop-for-every-sign robot chauffeur found its confidence.
A LOT of confidence.
It started making the left without quite as much concern about the approaching traffic as the three humans sitting inside would have preferred.
Suddenly the car that wouldn’t pass a STOP sign on the other side of the road was basically saying:
“I GOT THIS.”
That was the one moment when our laughter got a little more nervous.
Apparently Waymo has two driving modes:
Overly cautious grandmother and Nashville rush-hour commuter.
Overall? It was an absolute blast.
Was it the most direct transportation I’ve ever taken? No.
Did we almost become acquainted with a curb? Yes.
Did we receive an unsolicited sightseeing tour of Nashville? Absolutely.
Was there one left turn during which I briefly reconsidered all of my life choices?
Also yes.
But it was different. It was funny. It was a little weird. And it turned an ordinary workday lunch into an adventure the three of us will probably be talking about for a while.
And I would
absolutely do it again.
Although next time, I may have a little talk with the car before we leave:
“Listen. Stop signs on our side of the road: good. Curbs: bad. Oncoming traffic: let’s wait for that.”
Then we’ll be just fine.
Five stars for entertainment.
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