A car with no front or back that has no steering wheel: What San Francisco's next robotaxis could look like

[Auggie]

The toaster box-shaped robotaxi that pulls into a parking space outside a waterfront office park in Foster City resembles a carriage more than a conventional car.

The vehicle is symmetrical and almost half the width of a sport utility vehicle, but taller than a typical sedan. It has no steering wheel or pedals. There are no front seats. Or back seats. Rather, the driverless car manufactured by Amazon’s Zoox features inward-facing chairs, similar to taxicabs in London, for four passengers. Sliding doors opened by touch screens provide entry to the unique chariot.

On a 2-mile loop of quiet public roads, the Zoox robotaxi drives at speeds of up to 35 mph (it’s designed to drive up to 75 mph), making a left turn tighter than a regular car at a stop-light intersection before pulling into another parking spot.

On the way back, the robotaxi doesn’t have to make a three-point turn to back out of its parking space. Because it’s bidirectional, what was considered its rear now becomes the robotaxi’s front and it simply drives out of the lot.

Link: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sf-robotaxis-zoox-amazon-19549968.php



"Be sure to check all personal belongings before exiting the ride."

[global1]

1. Looks Like Some Of The Vehicles They Have On The Show Westworld.....nt

[Tadpole Raisin]

2. Cool! Kind of weird looking. It made me remember a different weird

car that my family had when I was a kid, brought over from Germany or Switzerland (the car not me).
Remember the Isetta? It felt like you were sitting in an egg that doubled as a spaceship, at least from my kid eyes.

Sorry, I tried to link a photo but I couldn’t figure it out.

[A HERETIC I AM]

15. If the photo is on a webpage...

right click on it and click on "Open image in new tab" or similar (I have a Mac and that's what mine says).

When it opens, look at the URL at the top. If it ends in .jpg or .png, copy and paste the entire URL to the body of your response here in the thread. Hit "Preview" to make sure it will show up. If it does, hit Post or Update.

If it is an image on your computer, you are going to have to use an image hosting site like postimages.org

[birdographer]

3. Gee, what could possibly go wrong? n/t

[Martin68]

5. I suppose that cliche could be used in almost any situation, but why did you think it was needed here? Because

it's a driverless car? If so, there's no reason this one should be more dangerous than any other one. Seems like a rather logical concept to me. What's your major concern?

[birdographer]

6. Get back to me when these are in use.

[Martin68]

8. Now you sound like the old fogey who said cars, electricity, and the telephone would never catch on.

[birdographer]

9. Thanks, how kind and considerate you are, Marty.

There are too many to choose from, but here is an interesting article. A box pops up saying to sign in or create an account. X it out and you should be able to continue reading; at least I was. Maybe it only lets clueless old fogies like me in. If you are wary of clicking on a random link from an old fogey, go to the site and search for the topic, it should come up. Or go buy a Tesla. Keep calling people who use critical thinking old fogeys. You do you.


https://spectrum.ieee.org/self-driving-cars-2662494269

[Martin68]

10. Well, I'm an old fogey, and Marty is my nickname. I'm just saying you can't hold back innovation. It never works

consistently right at first, but it will in the end, and then it will be standard. I've lived ling enough to see that happen over and over again. I'm not going to buy a Tesla but I have a friend who has driven me on a few long trips in one, and they have some great advantages over gas-powered vehicles. I watched Tesla's autopilot in action, and it worked magnificently.

I admire your tenacity, but in my experience it's a losing proposition to discount innovations in the early stages of development. Scientists insisted that heavier-than-air flight was impossible, Albert Einstein was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as saying, “There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable," "The ordinary ‘horseless carriage’ is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle,” claimed the Literary Digest in 1899," no man-made object could ever break the sound barrier, the concepts of television and personal computers were pooh-poohed by "critical thinkers," too.

[Polybius]

12. In the early 2000's, I had a friend tell me that she hated widescreen TV's

There were some that said CRT TV's would never be obsolete.

[Martin68]

13. I forget what year, but my Dad told me he'd never buy a CD because he had transferred all his records to cassette tape

and he wasn't going to make another transition. When he died at the age of 92, he had hundreds of CDs. For decades my parents refused to buy a touch-tone phone because they loved their old Ma Bell Bakelite rotary phone. I begged them to get a touch-tone phone so I could handle menus for flight information when I was visiting them from overseas, but no dice.Years later they got one, but continued to use the rotary phone. I've still got that phone.

[Old Crank]

7. We already know what goes on with people drivers

And we seem to accept the CARnage of 40k plus dead per year. We allow masdive wall front ends on half the vehicles sold in the US knowing that they kill pedestrians and cyclists. We allow vehicles to let drivers break the speed limits with impunity and hen they main and kill rarely are there serious consequences.I

[dickthegrouch]

4. Google will have to update their self-drive software again

IIRC their Waymo cars hit the same towed truck twice because it was presenting its front to the vehicle behind instead of its rear.
Their first reaction? It was the tow truck driver’s fault for hooking the vehicle up incorrectly!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/02/14/waymo-driverless-cars-google-software-update-crashes/

[Polybius]

11. At least you don't have to leave a tip!

[Emile]

14. What, it doesn't fly?