Steig ein, Verlierer – wir jagen einen Waymo in die Zukunft | Wir jagten ein fahrerloses Auto über 6 Stunden lang durch San Francisco. Hier ist, was passiert ist

WIRED happens to have a bureau in one of Waymo’s first markets, which is both an asset and a challenge: The novelty of being on the road with a bunch of robots has largely worn off for us in San Francisco, too. Even our 90-year old mother, when she took her first Waymo ride, felt instantly comfortable with her new sci-fi chauffeur. “There was no ‘getting used to it,’” she said. (WIRED does not have a singular mother, of course, but this story has many authors. So we’ve decided to write in a collective voice—much as Alphabet likes to say it’s developing not a fleet of autonomous taxis but a single “Waymo driver.”)

San Francisco has provided a backdrop for: (A) the dawn of the ubiquitous self-driving taxi; and (B) at least one of the [most iconic](https://www.wired.com/2009/08/bullitt-google-map/) car chase scenes in movie history. So WIRED decided that the best way to juice some meaning and adrenaline out of the self-driving future would be to tail it in hot pursuit.

Our idea: We’ll pile a few of us into an old-fashioned, human-piloted hired car, then follow a single Waymo robotaxi wherever it goes for a whole workday. We’ll study its movements, its relationship to life on the streets, its whole self-driving gestalt. We’ll interview as many of its passengers as will speak to us, and observe it through the eyes of the kind of human driver it’s designed to replace. We’ll chase it for no fewer than six hours, or until we get into a fiery crash. Whichever comes first.WIRED happens to have a bureau in one of Waymo’s first markets, which is both an asset and a challenge: The novelty of being on the road with a bunch of robots has largely worn off for us in San Francisco, too. Even our 90-year old mother, when she took her first Waymo ride, felt instantly comfortable with her new sci-fi chauffeur. “There was no ‘getting used to it,’” she said. (WIRED does not have a singular mother, of course, but this story has many authors. So we’ve decided to write in a collective voice—much as Alphabet likes to say it’s developing not a fleet of autonomous taxis but a single

Read the full feature story: [https://www.wired.com/story/waymo-robotaxi-driverless-future/](https://www.wired.com/story/waymo-robotaxi-driverless-future/)

I rode WayMo several times while visiting Phoenix. After doing so, I wish they were everywhere. It was better than riding an Uber since there was no driver. Not only did I not have to tip, but it was more like driving myself because of the solitude of privacy.