Waymo? #146

In St. Paul the other day I saw my first Waymo. They’re self-driving cars and claim to have impressive safety records, “drivers” who never get tired or distracted or angry, and can take you where you want to go. Sounds pretty good. 

Yellow taxis have been around for a long time. Maybe that’s why I have no qualms about hailing a cab. I am very comfortable with Lyft and Uber, but it wasn’t always that way. Uber was new and it was kind of unsettling getting into a stranger’s car, but those apprehensions have vanished. 

So where am I with a Waymo? In context, I should be comfortable with it being another iteration of personalized transportation. And the historical context should make it easy for me to try a Waymo. Humans can do things by themselves that we once thought that we couldn’t. 

Skyscraper buildings had an elevator operator whose job was to ask “which floor?” and then push the appropriate butten. People have been able to figure out how to get to the floor they want without an operator. Likewise, people can pump their own gas without a lot of help and they can “check out” at their grocery store or Target, bag their purchases, and pay for it. 

Waymo is here, expanding, and not going away. I think that is probably okay, but I do worry about Artificial Intelligence and what AI can do that we’re not ready for. I’m glad to hear that some Silicon Valley leaders are urging us to slow down and think about the ramifications and impacts before it goes too far. I hope that AI is probably going to be okay.