WATCH: Riding a Waymo in San Francisco
I was in San Francisco last week and apart from the iconic cable cars ferrying commuters up Nobb Hill, I noticed dozens of white cars that didn’t have drivers negotiating the streets of San Francisco. These robotaxis form part of a fleet of Waymo, a Google-owned company that specializes in driverless car services.
As a tourist from the Philippines, it was rather difficult to hail one of these cars for myself as the app is geolocked to a US Play Store or App Store account. Thankfully I had a local with me, and we were able to take two rides around the Bay area. The cars themselves are pretty fascinating. These are Jaguar I-PACE models retrofitted with LiDAR and cameras that can monitor surrounding areas as far as 50 meters.
There was recent controversy where claims were made that Filipinos in remote roles were actually driving the cars. This sparked an issue with Waymo’s Chief Security Officer Mauricio Peña clarifying that these contract roles from the Philippines do not drive the cars but act more like a customer support service to help the car and passenger address challenging situations.
Overall the car ride felt safe and smooth. It was of course rather unnerving to see a steering wheel with no driver navigating crowded streets, but that is the miracle of technology.
