I took a ride in AI-powered robotaxis set to hit UK – they have more gadgets than James Bond but I missed key element

The Sun

a day ago

AS my odd-looking taxi pulled up, it was comforting to know that the driver couldn't have downed a skinful the night before.
And I was certain this cabbie wouldn't spend the journey telling me why my football team, Crystal Palace, aren't as good as I think they are.
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That's because there wasn't a human behind the steering wheel. I was about to take a ride in an AI-powered robotaxi.
They are coming to Britain next year after driverless vehicles were given the go-ahead. Ride-hailing app Uber will be allowed to put passengers' lives in the hands of artificial intelligence in London.
For someone who has struggled to comprehend tech since the invention of the SodaStream, this ride was a frightening prospect.
Well, would you get on an airliner without a pilot?
Gazing out on to the busy freeway in Phoenix, Arizona, with giant SUVs motoring past, I had a similar pang of nerves about riding in the driverless contraption that had come to pick me up.
More gadgets than Bond
I had read some horror stories about robotaxies going rogue.
In 2021, a self-driving car in the sunbelt city became confused by traffic cones then drove away from a technician sent to rescue it.
Eventually the Waymo motor had to be disabled so a human driver could get behind the wheel. The passenger filmed the 33-minute debacle and plastered it on YouTube.
Last year a General Motors-owned Cruise robotaxi struck and dragged a pedestrian 20 feet in San Francisco. The woman — who was injured — survived the ordeal.
And in 2018 a cyclist was killed by an Uber cyber car with a safety driver in Phoenix.
Watch moment passenger left TRAPPED in driverless car 'going round in circles' after robot taxi malfunctions
The back-up driver had been looking down to watch The Voice TV show which he was streaming when Elaine Herzberg, 49, crossed a darkened road in front of her.
It was the first fatal collision involving a fully autonomous vehicle.
Nevertheless, with self-driving cars being touted as the future of motoring, it was time for a test run.
Booking my ride was simple. I downloaded the app of Waymo One — a self-drive firm owned by Google's parent company Alphabet — and punched in my details along with where I wanted to go.
With the thermometer hitting 39C in this desert city, I was on the hunt for a nice, cool pint of Guinness and was told Casey Moore's Oyster House was the place to go.
At least there would be no argument about designated drivers.
Soon I was tracking the Waymo on my phone as it surged to my hotel through the early rush-hour traffic.
And then the gleaming white Jaguar I-PACE came into view — with no one at the wheel. On the roof was something that looked like a giant police blue light with my initials displayed on it.
Unlocking its door with the app, I sat in the back (no one is allowed in the driver's seat) as the Waymo played calming elevator music.
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I pressed a screen between the front seats saying 'start ride'. Then, a bit like KITT, the car from Eighties TV series Knight Rider, Waymo began talking.
As we pulled smoothly away from the hotel forecourt, the robotaxi told me to buckle up.
And then, with the steering wheel spinning as if by some invisible force, we eased into the Phoenix traffic as I let out an involuntary 'whoaa!'
On the opposite side of the road cars were whizzing towards us but all-electric Waymo deftly navigated the right path before pulling up at a red light.
How did it know it was red? That's one for the brainiacs. Swinging left into East Apache Boulevard, I caught sight of a couple of pedestrians ahead. How would the cyber motor react?
My Waymo One slowed and made sure to give them a wide berth.
That's because it is bristling with more gadgets than a James Bond car.
Its sensors include cameras, radars and something called lidars which use lasers to create a 3D image of the vehicle's surroundings.
The in-car computer then makes sense of all the data that Waymo is gathering.
And, learning to trust the tech, I was soon beginning to relax. All speed limits were observed and driving rules obeyed.
The ride was smooth and felt safe. Perhaps I was better off without a driver after all.
Wayve's technology operates more like a human driver would learning to drive in one city and then applying that knowledge to drive in new places.
Bill Gates
Britain's Department for Transport estimates that 88 per cent of road accidents are caused by human error. Soon we were pulling up outside the pub.
Keeping the rear door open a little too long, an actual human called Brian came through on Waymo's intercom to check I was OK.
He was certainly more amenable than Johnny, the robot driver of the taxi in 1990 sci-fi flick Total Recall, who Arnold Schwarzenegger ripped out of the cab in frustration be- cause he was not listening to his in- structions.
My 14-minute journey over 1.6 miles had cost $9.33 (just over £7). And, unlike most things in America, there was no need to add a tip.
Waymo One serves 180 square miles of Arizona's capital — that makes Phoenix the largest fully autonomous ride-hail service zone in the world.
After a couple of pints, I decided to summon another Waymo.
Not arriving at the front of the pub as I had imagined, it headed to- wards a park- ing lot at the back. Would the robotaxi be able to navigate this manoeuvre?
In May this year another empty Waymo trying to pick up its ride collided with a telephone pole in a Phoenix alleyway.
No one was injured but pictures show a fire crew attending the scene with the robotaxi suffering a crumpled front grill.
Hunk of metal
Waymo voluntarily recalled its 672-car fleet for a software update in what the company called a 'safety-first approach'.
The crash was put down to the robotaxi's software having 'assigned a low damage score' to the pole. It had misjudged the danger because there was no kerb or clear road edge.
My Waymo pulled into the parking lot smoothly and confidently.
But, unlike many humans, could it parallel park? Indeed it could and reversing is no problem either.
And — despite having sampled some local beverages — there was no barked warning: 'Mate, you're not going to be sick in my cab, are you?' Soon this taxi was traversing the two miles to Society restaurant like a London cabbie with The Knowledge.
The 11-minute ride cost $13.31 (£10.25). Again, no tip required by the computer chip and its hunk of metal.
With millions employed as drivers across the globe, tech titans are investing billions in robo vehicle technology for what they see as a lucrative driverless future.
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Last year Elon Musk unveiled Tesla's Cybercab at the Warner Bros studio lot in Hollywood.
The world's richest man insisted that the sleek, golden two-seater car without a steering wheel or pedals will be on sale 'before 2027'.
Meanwhile Amazon-owned Zoox's self-driving cars will soon be available to the public in Las Vegas.
In Scotland a robobus with a back-up driver plies a route over the Forth Road Bridge. Wuhan in China — where Covid was first detected — has more than 400 self-driving Apollo Go cars taking passengers.
Tech giant Baidu delayed increasing the fleet to a thousand after complaints by human taxi drivers.
A cab firm in the city accused the robotaxis of 'taking jobs from the grass roots'.
It will be far from the last time humans protest about losing their jobs to AI-powered robots.
Self-driving cars could bring jobs, investment, and the opportunity for the UK to be among the world leaders in new technology.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander
Over here, the UK start-up Wayve will be teaming up with Uber for its taxi service next spring.
If all goes well, the plan is to roll out these services across the country in the second half of 2027 when last year's Automated Vehicles Act comes fully into force.
Founded in 2017 by New Zealand-born Alex Kendall, Wayve believes it can produce robocars that are safer and cheaper than anyone else by giving the car 'its own brain.' Its AI-driven software can be used to make any car self-driving using cameras.
The live images are used to train itself to drive by visual observation.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates went for a ride to get fish and chips in a Wayve-powered motor — with a back-up driver — while in London.
The tech giant said: 'Other self-driving technologies work only on specific mapped streets.
'Wayve's technology operates more like a human driver would learning to drive in one city and then applying that knowledge to drive in new places.'
In May, Wayve raised $1.05billion (£840million) in funding, with Microsoft and Nvidia, a leading chip-maker, among investors.
It is the largest known investment in an AI company in Europe to date.
According to the Department for Transport, the UK cybercar industry could be worth £42billion and create 38,000 jobs by 2035.
This week, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'The future of transport is arriving.
'Self-driving cars could bring jobs, investment, and the opportunity for the UK to be among the world leaders in new technology.'
Back in Phoenix, I summoned another Waymo for a ride back to my hotel.
By now I was relaxed enough to enjoy the experience of being driven through the night-time streets by a machine seemingly with a mind of its own.
Yet, as the journey progressed, I realised I was missing something.
There was no round-up of the Champions League scores and no chat about the most famous person to ride in the cab.
Waymos don't do banter. You still need a human driver for that.