Sunday, October 28, 2018

Driving Miss Daisy With Phoenix Area Self Driving Waymo

I do not remember if it was way back on my June and August of 2017 visits to the Phoenix area that I started seeing Waymo self driving cars being tested.

What I do know is during this current visit I have been seeing way more Waymos than previously seen on previous visits.

This last Sunday of the 2018 version of October, which is also the day before heading east towards Texas, I lost count of the number of Waymo encounters.

The Waymo you see in the photo documentation pulled up next to us whilst I was heading north on Arizona Avenue Or was it Alma School Road? With the Waymo pulling in to the left turn lane to turn onto Chandler Boulevard. Or was it Pecos?

Last night, after dark, we were heading south on Dobson when we were stopped by a red light at the intersection with Ocotillo, when a Waymo showed up making a turn from Ocotillo on to Dobson.

During the day it is not easy to see inside the Waymo. At night one could easily see the monitoring "driver" driving with his hands off the wheel as Waymo did the driving.

The driver being driven hands free of the wheel looks sort of weird. Miss Daisy does not approve of the concept of self driving cars. I would think she would embrace the idea.

I know today's episode of driving Miss Daisy had me wishing self driving cars were currently the norm. Just stick Miss Daisy in the car and tell it to take her on a drive. A long long drive.

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