San Francisco’s Waymo and Cruise have become city’s newest TOURIST ATTRACTION

San Francesco’s self-driving taxis have become the city’s newest attraction for joyriding tourists.

The cars have been around in California for two years, and about a month ago, regulators in the state approved 24/7 access to Waymo and Cruise taxis.

Waymo taxis are all-electric Jaguar IPACEs driven by their fifth-generation Waymo driver, and Cruising taxis are Chevrolet Bolts that work with a browser-based tool called Webviz.

The San Francisco Travel Association has embraced the futuristic vehicles and invited travelers to join them for a joyride.

‘Robotaxis is a new and sustainable transport facility for visitors. And a ride in one will likely be shared with family and friends as another ‘only in San Francisco’ experience,” a spokesperson said. SFGATE.

Brittany Lindsay shared a TikTok video as she waited outside her apartment for a Waymo to pick her up.

Lindsay was full of excitement as she approached the vehicle and said, “I can’t do it, I have to call my mom. Okay, so I’m answering the door with my phone.’

While sitting in the car, she pointed to the sunroof as screens displayed her name and greeted her.

With the push of a button, the car’s doors locked and it started to drive away on its own while a map of Linsday’s journey played on a screen.

Lindsay drove the Waymo to the airport as she pointed the camera at the moving wheel and said, “Jesus, literally take the wheel, Jesus.”

As the ride continued, an automated voice message sounded on the speakers telling her to hold on to her seat belt and enjoy the ride.

Lindsay’s only complaint was that the car wasn’t on the highway and that it was “pretty slow.”

Forbes reported that Waymo reached one million miles of public autonomous driving without a human monitor in the vehicle in January, and Cruise reached the same milestone in February.

Formally known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo started in 2009 and operates in Metro Phoenix and San Francisco, with plans to expand to Los Angeles and Texas.

Although there are no physical drivers in the cars, Waymo has created its own programmed driver into each vehicle’s hardware and software.

“Together, our hardware and software work together to paint a complete picture of the world around the car and allow us to navigate roads safely,” according to the company’s website.

Similar to rideshares, a Waymo autonomous car can be ordered through their app, but in the Metro Phoenix area the rides come immediately, while in San Francisco a rider is notified when a vehicle is available.

Cruise taxis are Chevrolet Bolts that hit the market in November 2021 after founder Kevin Voyt launched the company in 2013.

The vehicles use the Webviz program, a tool that AV engineers use to view the world from a car’s perspective. The program is designed to monitor everything that happens around the car, just like a driver would.

Michelle Marcelline took to TikTok in a short video to show off her journey in a cruise car.

While riding in the backseat, she showed the empty front seat as the steering wheel moved back and forth.

“The ride was smooth,” Marcelline said in the video.

While many have shown interest in these new futuristic vehicles, there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding them.

On August 21, a cruise vehicle on a green light entered an intersection and was struck by a fire truck responding to a call.

The week before, another driverless Cruise vehicle drove directly into wet cement and became stuck.

Ten self-driving cars also stopped working near a music festival in San Francisco’s North Beach, causing a massive traffic jam that the company blamed on “wireless connectivity issues.”

The company believes a nearby music festival may have overloaded telecommunications networks.

Since the fire truck incident, General Motors announced that they have cut their driverless fleet in half.

In early September, two more driverless cruise taxis blocked an ambulance carrying a car accident victim, delaying response time to the hospital.

The victim, who remains unidentified, died shortly after arriving at hospital from ‘significant injuries to the lower extremities’.

The company fired back at firefighters, saying their vehicles had cleared a path for emergency teams.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Chairman Aaron Peskin also told the Times that regardless of the cause of the victim’s death, the number of incidents involving self-driving cars was alarming.

Peskin said, “They all have a common theme: Autonomous vehicles aren’t ready for prime time yet.”