Driving Waymo - The Driverless car

 When I first came to United States almost Twenty five years ago, one of the first things I was forced  to do was securing a driving license. With a new country and different accent, navigating the system to get the license was not an easy one for me. I signed up for driving lessons which turned out to be a costly affair. After six lessons, I was still not confident enough to drive my own- this coming from a person who had secured a drivers license from India after a series of driving classes.  Somehow the highways and bridges intimidated me. 

My fear for roads date back to when I can remember. I can’t cross the busy roads without panicking. So driving is something not going to come easy for me. Seeing my situation, my husband decided to give me some private lessons in his brand new white car.  We went to a parking lot to practice parallel parking. He asked me to turn left and I turned right by mistake. The connection between the wheel and the steering did not register in my brain, especially when someone is directing me. The stress took over and I became numb and confused which caused the car to bump multiple times on the sides. The sessions ended in a bitter way with an angry husband and equally angry wife who gave up on driving. Seeing my husband and I fight over the driving, my son got super emotional and came to protect me and started crying. A fear creeped through my mind that I won’t be able to pass the driving test that is scheduled for next day. My husband was lamenting on all the money he spent on trying to make me learn driving and said it is all an utter waste. Even I felt all went in vain and that I should not have started out to try my hand at the wheel in a new car.  While he was worrying about the car, I slightly bumped the car on a yellow rod near the driveway causing the yellow paint stick to the new white Mazda. He jumped out of the car immediately and was shocked to see the paint sticking to it and worried that the car’s value decreased by 10% due to this damage I caused. I felt helpless and worried over what may happen after I fail the test. 

Next day, when my instructor  came to pick me up, he gave me a prep talk. “ Asha, I want you to pass your test today, if you don’t pass, it is not the end of the world, you will get plenty of chances. Try to do your best.” From his words I sensed he is not expecting me to pass, my husband has already given upon my driving at that point and didn’t care much and my five year old son was very anxious for me. And there I went and gave my test without much hope but I passed the test on the first attempt. The stars must have aligned well for me that day. Sometimes, when you try your best, you succeed out of pure luck, especially when you are left alone trying hard. “The universe will conspire and provide you what you deserve if you try with all your might “ as the saying goes. And then on, I started driving, conquering my fear for roads slowly, yet whenever possible I try to avoid it. Driving is just something I do out of necessity. 

Fast forward 25 years, today I took my first ride in a driverless taxi with my husband. San Francisco has world’s first driverless cars on the road. We waited for the taxi to arrive, it arrived and pulled over, we got in and it started as any taxi would. I realized in awe the technological advancement made in recent years. The car stopped at the red light, turned right and left, gave appropriate signal… and brought us to our destination with no hassle. It reminded us to take our keys and belongings when we got out. What a wonderful experience.

As the driverless cars replaces our cars in future, there are real concerns about the jobs being lost. As Waymo arrived to pick us, a passerby woman cursed it. The locals are not so happy to see these driverless vehicles cruising among them. Especially in Sanfrancisco where the income inequality is so starkly on display you wonder how bad things could get to some of these people . There are homeless people everywhere on the streets. For them, what difference these technological advancements make in their daily life? They couldn’t care less about these technologies. I can sense the world is changing around us rapidly and we may not be prepared for it. But the awe of a machine replacing a driver and taking us from point A to point B is still rushing in me. I just wished I was born four decades later so I could have spared the ordeal of learning to drive.