Thread by @IntrinsicInv

1/20 My driver on a recent morning spin around the suburbs of Phoenix was none other than Google’s Waymo self driving taxi service, which has been operating for over a year giving paid rides to the public. This is a thread describing my experience. $GOOGL

2/20 Pick up in a parking lot went smoothly with the car stopping in a safe area and waiting for me to get in.

3/20 Parking lots turned out to be more challenging than you might expect, with people ignoring any rules and wandering in front of the car. But the Waymo handled it all smoothly.

4/20 After a few minutes of thinking “what have I gotten myself into” as the car prepared to pull into traffic, the whole experience quickly turned from exciting to… boring. But that’s a feature not a bug for this sort of service!

5/20 Cars pulling out aggressively in front of the Waymo didn’t cause anything other than a brief tap of the breaks.

6/20 Turning and merging into traffic was a bit nerve wracking for a first time rider. But seemed like no big deal for Waymo.

7/20 One of the interesting things was watching how the Waymo followed driving laws exactly. In this video the car crossed from a 25 mph zone into a 35 mph zone with the car accelerating exactly as it crossed into the new zone.

8/20 Riders can “see” what the car is seeing via a screen in the back seat. It was cool to see how items like this traffic cone appeared on the screen.

9/20 Here’s the same system in motion.

10/20 While the car drove like a conservative, law abiding Uber driver, it wasn’t overly caution. However, I also noted that it took different, slower routes than Google Maps would suggest and this appeared to be the system avoiding busy intersections or challenging areas.

11/20 Unprotected, left hand turns was where the system’s conservative nature was most obvious. But it’s caution was something a rider staring at their phone or napping in the back seat during the ride wouldn’t notice.

Sorry the rest of the posts didn’t link to the thread.