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[EARLY VIDEO] I Did It...I Rode in the Robo-Taxi (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-12 21:00:05
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

In what was a very surreal (and expensive) experience, I tried out the autonomous Waymo taxi in San Francisco. It was impressive, but it also opens up a lot of questions about the future of mobility.

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[EARLY] I Did It...I Rode in the Robo-Taxi

I guess the future is now... Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/milesintransit Twitter: https://twitter.com/milesintransit1 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/milesintransit.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milesintransit Website: https://milesintransit.com/

Comments

Nick Albanese

God help me thats scary....cant even imagine Boston getting that....

J dubs

Glad no one stuck a cone on the hood. Dislike. They don't obey traffic officers and have caused issues in emergency response areas. I also would love to know if they are coded for the "the trolley operator dilemma" in terms of prioritizing who would be a casualty when they have no choice.

dee

miles in transit more like miles in danger 😨

Robert Welch

Now traffic will have cars with 0 people in them! Neat

Matthew Harris

This video was strange because most of your videos have some sort of companion, and even the ones who don't usually have some sort of social interaction! This one was just you, though, and you didn't have anyone to bounce off of! In a very odd comparison, this reminded me of one of the Doctor Who episodes where the Doctor didn't have a companion!

Victor Rousseau Trépanier

the font of the credit wasn't made for French accent haha. my é didn't appear at all for the first time.

Matthew Harris

Many transit discussions involve a misunderstanding between what "Anyone can do" and what "Everyone can do". Anyone can take an Uber from the airport, but not Everyone can do that! And Robo-Taxis seem like something that anyone can do...but not everyone can do. Once they have brought the price down and enabled highway speeds, they might be a good answer for certain situations, but I don't get how they are going to scale.

Kapil

I ride an autonomous taxi everyday to work. It can seat 300.

Kapil

if anyone posts anything positive about waymo, be warned. i will fight you.

Matthew Gelfand

I'm really glad you did this video. There are about 1,000 reasons why robotaxis are not going to solve all our mobility problems. But Waymo has quietly gotten to 200k rides/week between LA, SF, and Phoenix, all while most of the country seems to think robotaxis are a thing that might never come, or might only come if Elon blesses us with them in 2026. The only way people are going to properly engage with the problems and benefits created by these cars is if they understand that they are real, they exist right now, and they are giving thousands of utterly uninteresting, uneventful, expensive rides every day.

Darrell F

Lol $50?

Colby S

I really thought we were gonna get Miles in Music playing in the Waymo

Peter

I took Waymo several times while in Phoenix, and in my experience the prices were very competitive with Uber. I wonder if that has changed. The only thing was that Waymo took almost 2x as long as Uber. Another thing about Waymo is the pick up/drop off locations. I was dropped off right in front of what was probably a drug deal on the side of the road one time at 10pm. A human wouldn’t have dropped me off there.

Eltiempo10

Did it ask you for a tip? :)

Max

I suppose these could end up being a replacement for regular taxis, which most certainly do have their place in a city. But beyond that I wouldn’t worry too much about the transit implications, the issues you brought up will be too apparent for anyone to think these will replace public transit. When the first subways were built we still used horses and carriages to get around. New technology has come and gone since then and the trains are still there

—

Hey Miles. I think more context about Waymo’s record — and that of self-driving cars — is warranted: The feds launched an investigation into Waymo last year after 22 reported crashes or instances of unsafe driving. This probe would be the first step to issuing a recall. Waymo’s cars have also been observed failing to stop for pedestrians who are about to cross a street. The company said its artificial intelligence is still learning how to know a pedestrian’s “intent.” It is also “indirectly” learning from human drivers. In the wider context of autonomous vehicles: Tesla issued a recall of its cars after federal regulators found they could be set to roll through stop signs without fully stopping. Back to San Francisco: Some residents say the public was not asked for input before Waymo started using the city as a testing ground. 1. The Associated Press, “Waymo is latest company under investigation for autonomous or partially automated technology” (May 14, 2024) 2. Washington Post, “On roads teeming with robotaxis, crossing the street can be harrowing” (Dec. 30, 2024) 3. Consumer Reports, “Tesla recalls 'Full Self-Driving' because vehicles can roll through stop signs” (Feb. 22, 2024) 4. NPR, “Armed with traffic cones, protesters are immobilizing driverless cars” (Aug. 26, 2023)

Keith Davis

Not Just Bikes had a pretty spot on prediction for what the endgame of self-driving cars could look like, and it's pretty dystopian. But I will admit, it seems like it'd be fun to try once for a short trip.

Patty Jean

I took a Waymo ride in the fall and I loved it. I think robotaxis (as well as Uber and the like) should only be used to supplement transit.

HiImMikey

Omg this was quite an experience, you weren’t joking lol! You bring up some really awesome points, and they’re points that we’ve been talking about for a while in SF too. Most of the SF transit folks refuse to give Waymo any leg to stand on in terms of part of the multimodality of the city, much like with Uber / Lyft dominance here. I have a more nuanced perspective. *enter the peanut gallery* I think Waymo is competing for 3 types of travelers: - rideshare folks who have specific gripes with the existing rideshare dependency here - the introverts and people concerned with personal safety who don’t want to roll the dice with a human driver they don’t know - the curiosity foamers and alt-transport curious who appreciate the novelty of it As a persistent optimist, I think that most of these scenarios will actually push people closer to non-car transportation because they’ll get more comfortable with letting go of keeping their eyes on the road. Being in the “safest” car might allow you to focus on non-car stuff while being a passenger. I think this is one of the best parts about being a transit rider! I think it’s a solid half-step towards curing carbrain. I don’t think it’ll entirely consume the carshare (or even car) community. Also I’m a big fan of “Miles in Reflection” where you talk about how it makes your inner urbanist feel, preach mama!

Kapil
>>167571953

Not quite. They are required to steer clear of a sudden obstacle, but in the absence of a clear path, they apply emergency braking rather than decide the lesser of two evils. Personally I prefer that over the trolley operator approach.

J dubs
>>167571953

The trolley can't stop in time.... Like cars sometimes...

dsop

I used to work for an autonomous vehicle company and it was so surreal my first drive in the car. I've taken Waymo a few times and, while the answer to the transit question is mostly public transit, I wholeheartedly trust Waymo to drive me.

Robert Welch

It’s depressing that the big payoff we’re driving towards with of all the billions of dollars of research and all the fancy tech is just … cheaper taxis?

Bud W.

I just think of jobs.

Miles in Transit
>>167624509

Thanks for the comment. I'm pretty uninterested in what Tesla's up to and I'm not convinced that Waymo is crashing more often than human drivers would, but I really like that Washington Post article! My car seemed to be pretty good about yielding to pedestrians, but I thought the point about looking drivers in the eye to get them to stop was very salient, and I can see how a world with all self-driving cars would be much more likely to ignore pedestrians crossing. Thank you for that, that's giving me a lot to think about!

Miles in Transit
>>167590820

The pricing could be different in different Waymo cities, maybe? Also really good point about drop offs - you could ask a human to take you one extra block or something.

Victor Rousseau Trépanier
>>167580304

it's usually fine! it's the first time since I'm a member that it happened and don't worry even here in Canada in some occasion it appears like a "?"

William

people ride in airtrams on tracks which are driverless. This is just the next step