Would it surprise you if people that have ridden in some of the best autonomous taxis still prefer to have a human driver?

Because it has surprised me. As someone who is part of the "exclusive club" of people with access to Waymo and someone who has ridden Cruise vehicles before, I loved riding autonomous vehicles. After many rides, I still feel excited to book a ride and take another joyride. When comparing my experience riding these autonomous vehicles with riding your average Uber, the experience that Waymo is far smoother. I often get motion sickness in my Uber rides in SF and with Waymo, I'm surprised to have never once felt motion sickness. On the plus side, I don't have to worry about tipping and lowering the volume of the music.

After giving a few friends experience with the Waymo vehicles, I was surprised to receive mixed reviews. The people who I knew were excited to ride the robotaxis say the experience is far better than your average Uber and plan on relying on Waymo to get from Point A to Point B from now on. For the people who I thought would enjoy the experience, while they were positive about it, they preferred a human driver at the end of the day. Their main complaint was that the autonomous vehicles were less aggressive than human drivers and that led to their trip being longer by a few minutes.

For all those people who didn't give stellar reviews on their free Waymo ride (courtesy to me for providing it to them), as much as I want to demand a refund, their views are valid. Humans do have their edge in the taxi business as their judgements can help them find loopholes and opportunities that robots can't. At least they, nor I, didn't have to worry about giving a fat tip at the end of their trip because there's no one to tip.

As for the taxi drivers that may get displaced by this form of automation, I have faith that they'll find better jobs. There is a big factory building boom happening in America and I can see many taxi drivers working in the factories where they can get better wages and better work-life balance. They no longer need to fight the legislators, who are backed by the penny pinching ride hailing and food delivery giants, for fair pay and benefits.