Loaded with menacing looking black gadgetry, the white SUVs look like they belong on a

star wars set rather than in the Bojo neighbourhoods of San Francisco.

The all-electric jaguars are the first driverless taxis to crawl the city's famously steep streets.

They represent new hope for the AI revolution, but there was something tentative about their

unveiling this week.

For now, only carefully selected customers can hail the Robo cabs, and there will be

a real person in the driving seat when they show up.

So-called operators will have their hands on their knees ready to grab the wheel if things

go awry.

Customers are banned from discussing the rides publicly.

Waymo, the Google car company behind the launch, acknowledges that progress in driverless

technology has been slower than they envisaged.

The bombast of previous Silicon Valley product launches has gone.

Down the road in Cupertino, Apple's immaculate HQ lies mostly empty, with staff not expected

back until next year.

These are some of the signs the San Francisco Bay areas rebound from the pandemic is stuttering.

Might it end up even harder hit in the long run?

This is Chex and Balance.

I'm John Prado, the economist US editor, each week we take one big theme shaping American

politics and explore it in depth.

Today is San Francisco in trouble.

San Francisco managed the pandemic well, keeping death rates relatively low, but the city's economy

...