Is Missouri Ready for Driverless Rides? Waymo Thinks So

The future is always coming at you. Part of that future is arriving quickly. WAYMO driverless taxi service has begun testing its cars for use in the St. Louis area.

My oldest son began preparing me for this years ago when we got into an argument about driverless vehicles. My position was that I wouldn’t give up the freedom that comes with driving your own vehicle. He response was...“too bad, this is happening". His angle was that the younger generation was onboard with the driverless vehicles because when they went out to get “turnt” they could just have the car drive them home. I said "we already have something for that -- a designated driver, a cab, or an Uber or Lyft. Your safe drive home doesn’t have to be driverless". Perhaps I was looking in the wrong direction though. Millennials may not still be in the party mode that they were a decade ago, but the Baby Boomers are definitely moving in to an age of potentially needing a safer ride.

Older people behind the wheel can be dangerous. Perhaps you’ve experienced this riding with an elderly family member or friend. There comes a point when your reactions aren’t as quick as they should be to be safe on the road. This declining ability is different for everyone, but as the boomers move into this portion of their lives, I can certainly see them not wanting to depend on getting a ride from a friend or family member, and instead opting for using a WAYMO.

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Are WAYMOs safe? That's a sliding scale. You may think they are safe until you get into an accident with one. They are currently being used in five cities in the USA. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Phoenix and Austin, TX. St. Louis is part of the next phase of expansion that includes New York, Boston, Miami, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Nashville among others. Interestingly, Chicago is not part of the next phase of expansion. Chicago has its old-school reasons. Ready or not though, the future is coming at you, and it doesn’t have a driver.