Here is a mini-adventure that I wanted to be one of the first people to experience — taking a ride in a fully automated car.
Waymo, an automated driverless car, just came to my city in the Bay Area. So, Dennis and I had to give it a try. Yes! This is the Dennis that I shared half my trip around the world with, who you may remember from my book Falling Uphill. We have certainly shared a lot of forms of transportation, even including a parachute!
When I was young, I loved Star Trek. I had always thought I was born too early. But now look. We have a lot of the same gadgets and now self-driving cars. The weirdest part was that it felt so normal and really safe. More so than many Uber drivers. And way better than all the drivers looking at their phones.
Speaking of distracted drivers, a few weeks back, a woman drove her car into my favorite hardware store. She ploughed through all the plants outside, the plate glass windows, the cash registers — where I’ve stood many times — crashed into the rows of shelving and detonated the propane tanks. See the video here. Miracuously no one was hurt. Just watching the video felt like a near-death experience. That would never happen in Waymo. They never stop paying attention, look at their phone or confuse the gas pedal for the brakes.
Check out the quick 16-second video of what it was like.
I loved my ride. If you ask me, the future can’t come too fast. I look forward to the day when the roads are filled with autonomous vehicles, and it is safe to be a pedestrian again.
By the way, I was honored that Dennis and his wife visited us. They took a vacation not to see the sights but to visit their friends and experience how they lived life. This is something I’ve had to add to my bucket list.
In case you missed it, Dennis recently wrote an article. What happened to Dennis after cycling the world?
