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Today, Explained

RoboCab

Today, Explained

Vox

Politics, Daily News, News

4.3 • 10.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The San Francisco Standard’s Liz Lindqwister reports from San Francisco, where people are flipping her off for hailing rides in robotaxis. The Verge’s Andrew Hawkins explains how long before one pulls up in front of you. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by David Herman, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Imagine you call a cat, and it pulls up to the curb in front of your place, and you

0:06.9

get in, and you look over the driver, and there is no driver.

0:12.4

There's just robots.

0:13.4

Hello, I'm Johnny Cat, where can I take you tonight?

0:18.4

And you're like, what's going on?

0:20.0

This feels unsafe, but then the robot's like, come with me if you want to live.

0:24.7

And so you relent, and all of a sudden the robot makes the car go, and you actually get

0:30.3

to your destination, but then the robot gets kind of surly, get out.

0:35.7

What sounds like a distant sci-fi future is now a reality.

0:40.7

Robocabs are picking up passengers in San Francisco, and they're coming for you next on

0:46.6

today's planet.

1:09.9

I'm Liz Lindquister, and I'm a data journalist at the San Francisco Standard.

1:14.2

We focus on local news, politics, and culture in San Francisco.

1:18.1

And what's the latest in local news and politics and culture in San Francisco?

1:22.4

Something about robotaxies?

1:23.8

Yeah, a lot about robotaxies.

1:26.9

People like to say that San Francisco is at the heart of the robotaxie revolution, and

1:31.4

they're practically everywhere in the city now.

1:33.4

You can see them crawling on every single street.

1:36.2

So this isn't like an experiment.

1:38.0

This is the future.

1:39.5

This is reality.

...

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