Robotaxis

Robotaxis have been wandering the streets of San Francisco for a while now, and I’m surprised to say that my opinion of them has shifted considerably since they arrived. There are two reasons: the safety of cyclists (like me) who share the road with these things, and the safety of passengers in them.

Cycling

I take my daughter to school on a Tern ebike I bought at The New Wheel. Having shared the road with human drivers as well as robotaxis, I can honestly say I feel safer navigating the streets of San Francisco when the cars around me aren’t piloted by distracted, angry, or drunk humans.

Robotaxis don’t speed, they don’t run red lights, they don’t have blind spots. They don’t cut me off or try to run me off the road. I’ve never almost been killed by one. My daughter has never almost been killed by one.

Their driving record isn’t spotless regarding sharing the road with cyclists, and I don’t want to overgeneralize from my own experience. Waymo has published research to back up their claim that their robotaxis are safer than human drivers. I think we need to take any research funded by robotaxi operators with a generous helping of salt, of course. But this study’s results cohere with my (anecdotal) experience, at least.

Riding

Similarly, you don’t feel like you’re putting your life in the hands of some rando when you ride them—both in terms of driving safety and in terms of personal safety. They calmly get you to where you’re going without risky driving behavior, and they don’t kidnap you. That’s tragically not something you can say about the human competition:

So, yeah. Am I super excited about the arrival of our robotic overlords? No. But at least in this one respect, my life has gotten a bit safer, and that’s a welcome change.