After years of seeing them cruising around, we finally tried it out.

We spent a day in a busy local downtown and decided to park our car in one garage and use this service to get to get around for a few of the stops that were a bit too far to walk (and it was cheaper than hopping garage to garage).

I'll admit, I got pretty nervous the first few minutes. Someone used to daily driving something like a FSD Tesla would feel right at home, but for me it felt alarming as the car zipped away on its own with no one at all in the drivers seat - especially in heavy traffic.

After spending some time in it though, I felt oddly at ease pretty quickly. There's something to be said about perfect predictability and the exact adherence to the laws. No unexpected manuevers, no harsh takeoffs, no sudden lane changes - just the exact same driving style every single mile in every single car.

One benefit I hadnt expected over something like an Uber - total control over the experience. You want it 68 degrees with some calm Jazz in the background - go for it. Maybe you'd prefer 82 with some EDM cranked up - sure, just type it in on the screen. They use some kind of streaming service to give you plenty of audio variety.

It's not totally without its quirks though:
-There are some places where a little human intuition wouldve helped smooth things out. We had a couple cases where the path forward wasnt obvious- mainly construction areas with no lane lines and just a few poorly placed cones to direct traffic. It always made it through, but was very hesitant and took a few pauses to process - usually at the frustration of drivers behind.

-It almost feels overly safe. It's odd seeing 98% of traffic blast by you because you're driving the actual speed limit. It also had to take a longer route one time because it signaled for a full mile to get across 3 lanes to make a turn and people flat out refused to let it over (as it's not aggressive enough to just force its way in). So it ended up taking a detour to loop back around to make the turn from the other direction.

All in all a great experience though. By the end I felt more at ease than with most Ubers Ive taken (literally 100s, including in several other countries). I dont normally have much need for them locally, but Id likely pick this over an Uber if given the option on a trip somewhere else.

The biggest thing for me was really just the awe of the whole thing. I remember growing up watching movies like Total Recall and seeing stuff like the Johnny Cab. Thought it was neat, but figured it would just be sci fi make believe just like traveling to Mars, at least for my lifetime. Yet here I am cruising around one in the real world - truly amazing how far tech has come.