What to know before getting into a driverless taxi

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The idea of a car that drives itself might feel futuristic. But for an increasing number of Americans, that future is already here. Waymo and other companies have announced plans to expand in cities across the U.S.

And the Trump administration has signaled that it wants to pave the way for autonomous vehicle companies to expand. Last month, it loosened rules around driverless cars.

Martine Powers talks with Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler and reporter Lisa Bonos about what it's like to live in a city full of driverless cars – and what you should know before getting in one.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sam Bair.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In San Francisco earlier this year, tech columnist Jeff Fowler and tech reporter Lisa Bonos commuted to work in a pretty unusual way.
0:11.8	All right, so time to call our Waymo.
0:15.1	I'm going to pull up the Waymo app here.
0:17.1	What you're hearing is Jeff summoning a car to pick up him and Lisa, and in this case,
0:22.1	a driverless car.
0:23.9	It says it's almost at pickup here in the app.
0:26.3	And the car will wait for two minutes.
0:28.5	Oh, here it is.
0:29.3	It's approaching.
0:30.0	It's on the wrong side of the street.
0:32.0	And now it's parking in a tow away bus zone.
0:35.2	Yep.
0:36.4	Since last June, Wimo's driverless cars have been available to anyone who wants to take a ride around San Francisco.
0:43.8	Waymo is owned by Alphabet, the same parent company as Google, and their cars have become a familiar site in the city.
0:51.2	All right, let's get in.
0:52.6	The handles have popped open for us. It greeted me with
0:57.8	a hey, Jeffrey. And then there's this like chill spa music. Let's just like listen to it for a moment.
1:03.2	Okay. Get in the right headspace to be driven around by a robot.
1:11.6	All right. All right. You ready? Okay, Lisa, press the start ride button.
1:14.6	Door is just locked.
1:17.6	Heading to 490 Yost Avenue.
1:20.6	This steering wheel is moving on its own, and there's a little sign on the steering wheel that says,
	...

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