I was headed headed west on 3rd Street from a mid-city senior center with 89-year-old Julie Finger, who showed no sign of fear. Our ride wasn’t just any old car; it was a fully loaded electric Jaguar, and among other details worth sharing, one in particular stands out.
There was no driver.
Midday traffic was moderate, we were doing about 25 mph, the vehicle (which starts in the $70,000 range) smoothly accelerated and braked, and the steering wheel turned to the left and turned to the right, but allow me to repeat:
There was no driver.
Are you the least bit nervous? I asked Finger.
“No,” she said with a giggle. “It’s very exciting.”
Our robotaxi service was Waymo , the Google autonomous vehicle company that has fleets in San Francisco and Phoenix and began limited service in Los Angeles this spring in a 63-square-mile area between downtown L.A. and the beach.
A Waymo spokesperson said there’s a small number of their vehicles on the road in L.A., but the plan is to scale up as soon as possible. Fifty thousand people are on a waiting list to have their ride-hailing apps activated.