There is NO ONE driving that car!

"Hey. Look at that. There is no one driving that car!"

Kathy and I were waiting on the second island just outside of baggage claim at Phoenix Airport. It was so weird to see my first "in the flesh" Waymo car. It was speeding through the pickup lanes like it knew where it was going and was late. It was loaded with all the driverless sensors on the roof and all four corners of the car. The roof contraption was what made the car most identifiable as a driverless car. And it wasn't a cheap car either. It was a Jaguar SUV.

My first reaction was surprise. Seeing a car speeding by with no driver behind the wheel was weird, to say the least. My next thought was, I’ve got to call one of those cars to pick me up and take me somewhere. I want to experience being driven by a computer that is driving a car. I couldn't wait. I knew it would be “first-time” cool.

We stayed at a sprawling Marriott resort right at the foot of Mummy Mountain and across the street from Camelback Mountain. It was an idyllic location. The only problem was trying to figure out where the rooms were and how to get back to the lobby, restaurants, and convention center. The roads in the interior of the resort were like spaghetti.

As I was trying to make my way back to my room in our casita, I saw two young ladies and what looked like their dad standing outside a casita on one of the spaghetti streets. I look down the street and here comes a Waymo car. It drove right up in front of them and stopped. One of the young ladies, phone in hand, pressed on her screen and the door handles shot out. The car was now unlocked.

I ran up to them and said, "I want to take one of these Waymos but didn't know how to do it."

"Just download the app. It is just like calling Uber or Lift," she said.

As their dad got into the back seat, I asked him, "Are you a little nervous?"

He said, "Yes. I am. But I did ask God to protect us, and I'm sure he'll do it."

With that, he closed the door, and Waymo took off.

I couldn't wait to get back to the room and tell Kathy about it. She was excited, too. Our next trip off-property, we were going to take a Waymo.

The next day, Kathy and I decided to walk to Echo trailhead at the foot of Camelback Mountain. We got a late start, and it was already over one hundred degrees. After the two-mile walk, we got to the trailhead but were out of gas. I whipped out my phone. Downloaded the Waymo One app. Signed in. I added my payment info and entered my hotel address. I called my first driverless car to pick us up.

My screen said it would be at my location in twelve minutes. The app was just like Uber. I saw the car making its way to me. In twelve minutes, it pulled up exactly where I first called the car. The problem was I had meandered off a bit.

I learned later this is how it works. Wherever you are when you call the car, it will show up as close as it can get to that spot; if you have to walk to get to the car, you are given walking directions via Google Maps. It took me a couple of tries to figure this out. I thought the car would follow my phone's location. Not so.

I walked up to the car and hit the unlock button on the app. The door handles popped out, and we got into our first Waymo ride.

We entered via the rear passenger doors. As we sat down, we noticed an LCD screen at the back of the "driver's" center console. I had a big software button saying "Start my ride." We were also greeted by a very friendly voice that said, "Hello, Charles." After hitting the button, I was reminded to fasten my seat belt. The car began the ride even before we were fastened in. I found out later that if I took too long to fasten my seat belt, the car pulled over and waited for me to complete my task.

And we were off.

Kathy and I were surprisingly confident in Waymo right from the start. I didn't feel anxious at all. We trusted the driverless experience completely. I found this odd. You see, I own a Tesla. I tried their FSD (full self-driving) experience most recently. I found myself sitting in the driver's seat ready to take control of the wheel. I never lost this feeling of anxiousness. But sitting in the back seat of a Waymo, Kathy and I carried on a conversation like we had a seasoned limousine driver taking us to our destination. This confidence continued for the other six rides we took in Waymo around Phoenix.

There were two other software buttons on the console screen. One was "Stop the Ride," and the other was "Contact Support." So at any point in time, for any reason, I had the power to stop the car. End my ride. Get out and call an Uber. I tried the support button on our last ride in Phoenix.

The last ride was the trip to the airport.

I must confess, I had second thoughts about this. I wanted to be sure we would get picked up and get to the airport without any problems. After all, we were catching a plane back home. To give myself some assurance, I pulled up Google maps and asked how long it takes to drive to the airport. It came back with twenty-one minutes. I checked this same time on Waymo. It was twenty-four minutes. I then checked how long I would have to wait for a Waymo to show up. It was fifteen minutes. I decided to chance it.

Standing outside on the resort street just outside our room, I called our final Waymo ride. I went back into our room and waited comfortably. In fifteen minutes I was alerted that the Waymo was just outside my door. I opened the door, and there it was. The bubble light at the center of the roof showed "CP," my initials. This was my car. We grabbed our bags and headed to the car.

A new problem.

I didn't know how to open the trunk. I stored my bags in the front seat. We got in the back seat. After the car began our trip to the airport, I decided to call support and ask how to open the trunk.

Support rang and rang followed by the message, "We can't get to you right now." It hung up the call the car was making. In a few minutes, there was a ring in the car, and the screen indicated that support was calling. I pressed the “Answer Call” button on the screen. I asked the agent how to open the trunk in the future. He explained there was a small button under the rear panel (just like any other SUV). I thanked him. He then offered to pull the car over so we might move our luggage to the trunk. We declined, but I just loved this offer. I loved that the support agent had the ability to control my ride. It was an extra assurance of personal control and safety.

We got to the airport without a hitch. It was a great ride. I did notice that Waymo did not use the highway which would have saved three minutes. I guess they can only drive on local streets.

As we were exiting the car, there was a man standing just outside the car with his luggage.?

He said, "After you exit, this will be my Waymo ride."?

I told him, "I loved this service."?

He said, "I live in Phoenix, and I use it all the time. I especially like that there is no driver to worry about interacting with."?

I agreed. "The ride is so quiet and peaceful without a driver. It is so private. No one to rate and no one to rate me as a passenger."?

The other benefits are economics. The ride cost less than an Uber by twenty-five percent. (Yes, I compared rates.) And there is no need to tip. There is no driver.

If you ever get to Phoenix or any city that offers Waymo, I say do it. You'll love it. It was a fun experience.

A thought of robots taking over parts of our lives.

In the conference we attended, the CEO and Founder of ThinQ presented. He was talking about Tesla's demo of their robots making our lives easier in our homes. They would do all the mundane tasks we don't really like to do.

He said, "Every time we give up our human agency, we lose a sense of our meaning. And as the technology advances, as the technology makes our lives comfortable and convenient, what we start to give up is real. When we start to give up agency, then we start to lose our need and purpose."

The Waymo robotic technology certainly replaces limo and Uber drivers. It directly impacts their purpose and the income derived from their purpose. It also impacts each of us who drive our own cars. Driving is a skill that we often enjoy. Driving to the supermarket and to the doctor is part of our purpose. It is a low-level part of our purpose, but it is part of our purpose.?

So is doing the wash, cleaning the kitchen after dinner, putting the dishes in the dishwasher, ironing, and making the bed. My mom was proud of being a homemaker. She took pride in keeping a beautiful, ordered, and clean environment for all of us. She made our house a home.

What if these tasks were being completed by a robot? What would she have done instead of the housework to find purpose?

And to think all this came from taking a Waymo in Phoenix. Food for thought on robots.

Take a Waymo. You'll love it!