San Francisco, California is one of the innovation centers of the world, so it came as no surprise that the city authorized self-driving taxis, or robotaxis, to operate on its streets in 2022. Now, two years later, robot taxis belonging to different companies can be seen everywhere in the city.
We were curious to find out more about them which is why we entered a long waitlist and we finally got to ride one. Read this article to find out more about self-driving taxis in San Francisco and learn whether they are worth the hype.
Technology
Everyone’s first question is probably about the technology of autonomous cats. There are five levels of driving automation, and while many think that the robotaxis they see in the Bay belong to the highest tier (level 5), they are all actually level 4.
Level 5 autonomous vehicles perform all driving tasks in all conditions with zero human interaction necessary. Level 4 autonomous vehicles, by contrast, can perform all driving tasks under certain circumstances, with geofencing necessary for operation, and driving actions can still be overridden by a human driver or a remote operator.
In the case of Waymo, for example, a human operator working remotely can stop the vehicle for any reason, and they do, mainly when passengers don’t put on their seatbelts or when there are more than the four people allowed inside the robotaxi.
Let’s return to the technology itself. Current robotaxis require geofencing, being level 4 autonomous vehicles, which uses GPS technology to create a virtual boundary that the built-in software uses to trigger a response when movement (vehicles and pedestrians) is detected.
Robotaxis are equipped with internal and external cameras, some being 360 degrees cameras, that allow them to safely operate on the road. The cars also have many sensors which allow them to detect movement even when said movement is considerably far from the vicinity of the car. Waymo cars, for instance, are said to see up to three football fields in any direction.
To summarise it, robotaxis rely on LiDAR (light detection and raging), cameras, and radars. The data accumulated through these sources is used to render the car’s surroundings with great fidelity and to also provide immediate solutions to present and future actions with the help of artificial intelligence.
Say, for example, that there is a cyclist on the road. The robotaxi will not only render the cyclist, but also take actions that avoid collision in both the present and future.
Here is a video produced by Waymo which shows how their cars operate:
Approved Self-Driving Taxi Companies in San Francisco
There are two companies which were approved by California legislators to operate their self-driving taxi services in San Francisco – Waymo, owned by Google, and Cruise, owned by General Motors.
Waymo and Cruise have spent billions of dollars developing their technology and they have been testing their new cars, first with drivers then without them, on the streets of San Francisco for years now.
In August 2023, the two companies were finally allowed to roll out their autonomous driving fleet to the public and to operate during all hours of the day.
Of course, this decision did not come without opposition. Some critics of the bill claimed that the technology was not tested enough, while others expressed overall dissatisfaction with tech companies using cities in the Bay as playgrounds for potentially hazardous products and services. Still, the bill passed and robotaxis by Waymo and Cruise began operating soon after.
Unfortunately, on October 2, 2023, there was an accident involving a Cruise car. A female pedestrian was hit by a car (not a self-driving one) with the collision throwing her at a Cruise car. The Cruise robotaxi initially stopped, detecting the pedestrian, but then tried to park itself which led to the woman being dragged for 20 feet, further injuring her. Luckily, the woman survived both collisions, but Cruise soon lost its license to operate in California.
General Motors argued that the pulling over maneuver, which injured the pedestrian, was required by state and federal law. This shows potential legislative errors which would hopefully be amended to eliminate the risk of possible collisions in the future.
Still, the company was not given back its license, and Cruise suspended operations nationwide. Recently, in February 2024, Cruise resumed testing its robotaxi fleet.
Our Experience with Robotaxis
Waymo announced that over 100,000 people were on its waitlist when the August 2023 was passed. We were on that waitlist, and many months after, in April 2024, we were finally allowed to try out Waymo.
The process of booking a Waymo car is similar to that of other car services. You have to open the Waymo app, enable your GPS service, pick a starting and end point, and wait. After about 10 minutes, a white Jaguar I-PACE came to pick us up. Rather than displaying a shiny “TAXI” sign on top, it displays the rider’s initials, so we were immediately enthralled.
Once inside, we had to buckle up and click the “Start Ride” button on the touchscreen located on the dashboard or the one located in the back. To say we were excited when the wheel started turning on its own is an understatement.
We saw that the Waymo car had a few set playlists for us to choose from, but we knew that you could also connect your phone to listen to your favorite songs, which is the first major advantage of robotaxis.
We were really impressed by the real-time map displayed on both screens which showed both cars and people around us, depicting every change of the environment with astonishing accuracy. For example, the car detected a pedestrian walking into a forest and it continued to do so long after we couldn’t see the person ourselves.
Moving on, there was an ambulance coming from behind and we were surprised to see that the car slowed down and made way for it, just like human-driven vehicles around us.
Overall, we had a smooth and pleasant ride listening to music of our liking and not worrying about how much to tip our ghost driver.
One disadvantage of Waymo, however, is that it cannot stop wherever you want. While a human driver can stop anywhere, the Waymo only stops in places where it can park itself, so you might need to walk further to your destination.
Still, this is a minor inconvenience that didn’t take away from our positive experience with the robotaxi. All we have to say is that we booked two additional rides on the same day.