I was heading west on 3rd Street from a downtown senior center with 89-year-old Julie Finger, who showed no signs of fear. Our vehicle was no ordinary car; it was a fully loaded electric Jaguar, and among other details worth sharing, one in particular stands out.
There was no driver.
Midday traffic was moderate, we were going about 25 mph, the vehicle (which starts at $70,000) accelerated and braked smoothly, and the steering wheel turned left and right, but let me repeat:
There was no driver.
Are you a little nervous? I asked Finger.
“No,” she said, laughing. “It’s very exciting.”
Our robotaxi service was Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company that has fleets in San Francisco and Phoenix and began limited service in Los Angeles this spring in a 63-square-mile area between downtown Los Angeles and the beach.
California is about to be hit by a wave of aging, and Steve Lopez is taking advantage of it. His column focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of advancing age, and how some people are challenging the stigma associated with older adults.
A Waymo spokesman said there are a small number of its vehicles on the road in Los Angeles, but the plan is to increase the number as soon as possible. Fifty thousand people are on a waiting list to have their ride-hailing apps activated.
At first, I found my Waymo ride unsettling – after all, blind faith takes some getting used to. As the car pulled away from the curb, I found myself craning my neck to see if it was safe, and instinctively wanted to tell the “driver” to watch out for this or that.
But Finger, a retired graphic artist, wasn't worried. It was her third ride in a self-driving vehicle and she had a smile on her face as we rode in air-conditioned comfort.
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I've been wondering if robotaxis could be successful among older adults.
Farah Javadi, left, and Sharon Boaz take their turn in a Waymo electric car.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
As we get older, we reach a point where we need to lock up our car keys. (About 10 years ago, Finger felt uncomfortable behind the wheel and gave her Toyota to her grandson.) Public transportation isn't always convenient, and lately, it seems risky. As for taxis, Lyft and Uber, not everyone is comfortable getting into vehicles driven by strangers.
A Waymo spokesperson said the company didn’t have current demographic data, but told me that older Phoenix residents (some with vision problems or other disabilities) have been using the robotaxis for shopping and date nights, and to impress visiting grandchildren.
In Los Angeles, Waymo has been working with “a number of high-profile organizations” to pitch robotaxis as a solution to the mobility challenge and, perhaps, the isolation epidemic I’ve written about before.
Waymo put me in touch with Finger, who moved to the U.S. from India at age 20, and his friend Bill Meyerchak, 47, a volunteer at the Fairfax Senior Center. Meyerchak, a tech-savvy former banker who hurt his back 10 years ago moving heavy furniture, uses a cane and has already made more than 50 Waymo rides and has been encouraging the center’s customers to try it.
One day, after a game of bingo, Finger was ready to head home, and Meyerchak suggested she try Waymo. He used its app to hail a car, accompanied Finger on her ride home, and she was sold.
Passengers are instructed to keep their hands off the wheel while riding in a Waymo self-driving car.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“Maybe the technology is what attracts me,” Finger said, “and the fact that I like new things. When Bill showed me that I could push this button and listen to music, or I could push this button and talk to a real person, [a customer service advisor]“I thought it was exciting.”
But did he have any qualms about the driver's seat being empty or the possibility that the ghost behind the wheel might crash into a tree?
“It's probably safer,” he said, because humans make mistakes.
As my colleague Rachel Uranga reported, Waymo said last year that a study indicated its accident rate was 85% lower than that of humans, but market observers or regulatory agencies have yet to collect much safety data.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated a couple dozen incidents involving autonomous vehicles and collisions. Driverless cars have crashed into a truck, a bicyclist, a fence, a pole and a few other things, mostly in minor incidents.
However, robot cars do have some big safety advantages: no drunk driving, no texting while driving, no falling asleep while driving, and no road rage while driving.
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In a region where millions of vehicles compete for space each day in Los Angeles, some people think it’s crazy to ask for a driverless one. I noticed that outside the Pan Pacific Senior Activity Center, where Meyerchak and Finger have been spending time lately. Israel Brettler, who had just left the center, said he was unlikely to voluntarily get into a driverless vehicle. Sharon Boaz was more direct about that. “No, thank you,” she said. “I don’t trust those.”
Finger got to work on her, though, and after a few minutes, Boaz, 77, was ready to throw caution to the wind.
“My good friend, who has more courage than I, convinced me,” Boaz said.
One of Waymo's self-driving cars drives past Julie Finger after dropping her off at the Pan Pacific Senior Activity Center in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Farah Javadi, 74, was passing by when we asked if she wanted to come along. She seemed a little wary at first, but decided she didn't want to miss out on the fun. (Anyone who thinks this age group is technology-averse or no longer up for adventure should spend a few weeks with me in the Golden State area.)
I ordered a Waymo and it arrived within minutes; it looked like a cross between an SUV and a robot: its roof was equipped with a light detection and localization system and perimeter sensors that looked like bulging eyeballs.
“Happy Friday,” an automated voice said as we climbed in. I dialed in Farmers Market as our destination, about a mile away, and our Waymo pulled away from the curb.
“Amazing,” Javadi said. “Wow!”
“I’m here, buckled up … and all is right with the world,” Boaz said, though he was worried about all the drivers who could lose their jobs.
“If I want to sing, I can do it,” Javadi said. “I won’t have to feel embarrassed that a driver can hear me.”
That may have been the idea of the couples who used their robotaxis as motel rooms in San Francisco, only to discover that the vehicles had audio and video recording capabilities. On my ride with Boaz and Javadi, a Waymo operator suddenly joined us on the audio system — not to inform us that sex games are prohibited, but to tell us that two passengers were not wearing seatbelts.
That's commendable, but here's one complaint: On two separate trips, one with Boaz and Javadi and the other with Finger and Meyerchak, Waymo didn't take us to the requested location: The Original Farmers Market.
As we approached, instead of turning right onto the street between Farmers Market and The Grove (South Gilmore Lane), our car turned left, crossed to the wrong side of 3rd Street, and entered Ogden Drive, where it came to rest. Not on a sidewalk, not at an intersection, not in an open parking lot a few feet away, but in the middle of the street, next to a construction site.
It wasn’t a safe place for anyone, young or old, to get out of the car. And even though we were close to the farmers market, we would have to cross busy 3rd Street on foot to get there. We were stuck there for a few minutes while I dialed in a new destination and a construction worker tried to wave us on.
A Waymo representative later thanked me for reporting the issue and said the company is addressing issues like these before expanding service in Los Angeles.
Meyerchak told me there is a feature in the app to limit walking distance from the drop-off point and said he is confident the service will improve and robotaxis will become a source of freedom for seniors and people with disabilities.
Farah Javadi and Sharon Boaz are getting ready to ride. If you want to join the queue for expanded service along with 50,000 others, you can download the Waymo app.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Meyerchak has found that, with regular ride-sharing services, some drivers are reluctant to pick up elderly or disabled people. Perhaps, he said, it's because they need more time or help with walkers, or because they use subsidized transportation vouchers that pay below-market rates.
“That’s what I like most about Waymo,” Meyerchak said. “It doesn’t discriminate against seniors or race or ethnicity.”
It's not cheap, in case you were wondering. Meyerchak estimated that he pays a little more than Uber's basic fare and a little less than the premium fare. The day before I rode with him, my two 1.7-mile rides cost $8.70 each. But you don't have to tip the robot.
So would you recommend it?
I think so, but only if Waymo fixes the delivery issues. I have a few questions:
If you're trying to change lanes and a self-driving $70,000 Jaguar won't let you merge, what's the point of having a middle finger in Los Angeles?
How long will it be until some idiot steals a bag of donuts, hops into a Waymo, and leads police and squadrons of helicopters on a self-driving car chase?
And if a technological glitch can ground thousands of flights and overwhelm airports, could a different technological glitch cause your robotaxi to slide off the Santa Monica Pier and sink into the waves?
Finger didn't share my concerns. During the ride, I wanted to listen to some classical music, and Meyerchak guided me through the stereo system. “It's like you're in your own sanctuary,” he said. “You control the music, the windows, the air conditioning.”
We were heading west on 3rd Street.
Ravel's “Spanish Rhapsody” was playing.
And Finger declared it “impressive.”
