Inside Waymo's driverless taxi: What it feels like to ride in a self-driven car; watch video

Waymo, subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., which is the parent company of Google, is the first company to offer a driverless ride-hailing service to the public. Tech Today’s editor Aayush Ailawadi tried out this driverless taxi in San Francisco recently. He rode in a cab, Jaguar I-PACE, which was equipped with nearly 12 cameras and LiDAR sensors, to map the environment to navigate seamlessly.

Waymo has developed self-driving car technology that uses a combination of cameras, lidar, and radar to perceive its surroundings. Although it was a driverless car, it seemed to manage red lights, paths, turns smoothly. In terms of safety, it came with mandatory seat belts for all passengers. He was really impressed by the precision that the car was driving even in zig zag streets. The braking system in the cab was also working like a charm.

He revealed that the cost of a 15-20 minute ride in this cab was $20-$30 (approx Rs 1,600-Rs 2,500). Waymo's widespread adoption in the San Francisco city showcased its reliability. To use this service, all you need to do is request rides through the Waymo One app. Once you have an account and it's your turn, you can hail a self-driving car to your location and enter your destination. Waymo One in San Francisco operates 24/7, so you can request a ride day or night.

In addition to Waymo, Cruise (GM), Aurora, and Uber are also testing their self-driving technology in the US. Although it is available for public use in the US, it is still a machinery that can malfunction at times.

While this seems futuristic, but the important questions that we need answers for are:  Could such driverless cars be viable on Indian roads in Bengaluru or Mumbai or Delhi? Will people trust this technology with their lives?