A Robot saved my life…Maybe?

Waymo saved my life? Maybe?

Passenger is in control. I liked that!

Being an East Coaster I don't have many opportunities to ride in a driverless vehicle, but I was recently in a city with Waymo and I took one from my hotel to the airport.

At first, it was mildly interesting but a bit anti-climactic. I called my husband from the car and gave him a running commentary.
"We are coming to a red light behind other cars and its waiting until the last second to slow down..."
"We are behind a car that has its turn signal and brake lights on and we are not slowing at all!..."
It some ways it was like driving with my teenage daughter. It's not the way I drive, but I'm pretty sure I will survive.

Then I hung up because I was 5 minutes from the airport. That's when things changed. We were behind and one lane over from a recycling truck and MANY flattened cardboard boxes flew out from the truck and into our oncoming path. The Waymo immediately swerved into the other lane missing most of the debris but driving over some of it.
I was totally calm. Why?.. If it had been me or another driver, my heart would have been racing.

I realized it was because I knew that the Waymo was tracking all the cars around us and knew there was no one next to us. I totally trusted the Waymo's situational awareness in a way I would never trust my own or another driver's. In fact, there was an actual map of all the other cars around us that I had been watching. In the moment, it would NOT have helped a human driver but the Waymo clearly knew where all the cars were.

Note images of other cars around us…great situational awareness!

The Waymo then pulled over and informed me that "remote specialists are monitoring this issue." After about a minute, we were on our way and I made it to the airport.

In summary - under nominal conditions, Waymo was fine. Off-nominal conditions, Waymo was GREAT!

PS I loved that I could choose my own “vibe.” I tried them all!