It’s a Weird Time for Driverless Cars
The robotaxi is recording me sitting in the backseat, and I am recording it. Someone in the neighboring car is recording us both.
It’s an unusually hot day in San Francisco, and I am in a self-driving car named Charcuterie, operated by Cruise. Next to me is William Riggs, a professor at the University of San Francisco who studies self-driving cars. The front seats are both empty, and the wheel silently shifts as the car maneuvers itself along a thoroughfare next to Golden Gate Park.
When I notice the stranger filming, we are stopped at a red light. Riggs rolls down his window to chat. A pleasant robotic voice chimes in and warns him to keep his hands and arms inside the vehicle.
“It’s weird!” the woman in the car says, assessing our futuristic setup from behind her phone.
“It’s totally normal
