Driverless cars

One of the things I really miss in San Francisco is the driverless cars, specifically Waymo. It was an amazing way to get around. I always found it much more comfortable and enjoyable than taking most Lyfts or Ubers. On top of that, I always marveled at the human progress that was made to get to this point.

I was stoked to see that Waymo was starting to test out in New York. The city’s traffic and issues is insane. I saw my wife get stuck 3 blocks away from me while picking me up in the city this past weekend. I waited 20 minutes for her to go 3 blocks and most of the issues were solely caused by bad and selfish drivers blocking each intersection and gridlocking traffic.

In theory, driverless cars would solve most of that. Of course this is going to be a long battle. I read that there was a large protest of cab and Uber/Lyft drivers protesting Waymo coming to New York claiming that the city was too crazy for driverless cars to navigate. This is of course a convenient excuse and there’s a ton of self interest here.

I understand. People don’t want to lose their jobs and livelihoods. But I have no doubt that in the long run, a New York with driverless cars will be safer and make the city a better place. For those former drivers, I do believe there’s plenty of new opportunities for them as well in this new world that allows them to live better lives. That may be hard to see in the short-term, but I truly believe that in the long-term it will play out that way if people keep an open mind.