The first time I saw a Waymo, I just about lost my mind, laughing. “There’s no one driving that car!” Now they’re everywhere and it’s normal. When I see one now, I just think, “There’s a safe car that is unlikely to run over a pedestrian.”

@manton I often think of iRobot, where the main character is constantly chided for driving on manual rather than on autopilot. But, unironically, the future will be full of groaning parents that are irked or apprehensive if anything less than AI-driven car is transporting their child.

@manton I can’t tell if you’re being ironic there! Never seen a self-driving car over here in the UK.

@devilgate Actually I’m being serious. A year ago, there were no self-driving cars here either, now there are hundreds. It’s remarkable how quickly we become used to something that’s a little nuts.

@bradleyandroos That is going to be fascinating. Even though I’m convinced that self-driving is generally safer (assuming good AI and good cameras), it would still feel very weird to me to put a child in one, like my instinct is overriding what my brain knows.

@manton i have family that helped test these. knowing the sausage-making makes me not so comfortable though the predictive system has apparently improved. that said certainly less distracted or reckless than 1/4 of the drivers i see on my commute. so 🤷

@manton I feel like the wrong people will be using self driving (the good drivers) and the horrible drivers will still want to drive themselves (because of their horribleness.)

@manton I’ve been doing night shift for the last week at work and have been tempted to subscribe to self-driving just to test it out on my way home due to the ZZzzzzZZZZ risks trying to get home on my hour drive back on the freeway.

@manton @devilgate It has become a recommendation of mine for SF visitors: try a Waymo

@manton

But may run over a cat.

@manton Someday, it will seem crazy that we let just about anyone drive cars.

@manton I live in the NE of the US and I’ve never seen one here. Then again, I’d like to see a waymo try to navigate Boston in a snow storm. I mean, there’s a lot of people that can’t do that when it is dry and sunny 😀

@manton Had my first Waymo experience in LA recently and it was very awesome. I really hope autonomous driving is the norm before the end of my life.