San Francisco is being used as a test track for driverless vehicles trends now
One ploughed headfirst into the back of a packed city bus. Another ignored yellow police warning tape and became tangled in downed power lines. Yet another 'out-of-control' vehicle moved menacingly towards a police officer while ignoring his frantic command for it to 'stay!'.
Welcome to the streets of San Francisco, where the world's biggest experiment in self-driving 'robotaxis' is under way.
While Big Tech says this is the future – a world where artificial intelligence (AI) avoids accidents caused by human error – the reality uncovered by The Mail on Sunday offers a glimpse into a future where AI-controlled vehicles cause chaos on city streets.
One local told me: 'The self-driving future has arrived on the streets of San Francisco and it's a nightmare. These things are causing havoc because they don't know what to do when something unpredictable happens.
'Thankfully, the incidents haven't involved anyone getting hurt or killed. But it's only a matter of time.'
HANDS-FREE: One of 200 Waymo Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs that pick up passengers across the Californian city
IGNORED: Officers attempt to disable the robotaxi as it inches towards the fire brigade's main water lines
While San Francisco is the centre of the new technology, autonomous vehicles will take to Britain's streets tomorrow when driverless buses begin operating in Scotland.
Five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV vehicles, travelling at up to 50mph, will ferry passengers along a 14-mile route from Fife, across the Forth Road Bridge and into Edinburgh.
Unlike San Francisco, where robotaxis have no one inside, the Scottish buses will have a 'safety driver' ready to grab the controls in an emergency. There will also be a 'captain' on board to handle tickets and passenger queries.
But it is only a matter of time before humans are totally removed from the equation – which makes what is happening in San Francisco all the more worrying.
San Franciscans are used to being at the vanguard of new tech, thanks to Silicon Valley being less than 40 miles away. The big names of ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, came here first. As did home-rental giant Airbnb.
Waymo, the self-driving car company owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet, and Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, were last year given permission to start operating Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Services.
Many were intrigued to see the driverless cars navigating San Francisco's famously hilly streets.
Initially, the cars were authorised to drive only during quiet hours – from 10pm to 6am – but curiosity turned to dismay at the start of this year when regulators allowed them to patrol the streets 24/7.
Today there are more than 400 robotaxis on the road, with that number expected to double within the next 12 months.
There are about 200 Waymo Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles, which are currently free to riders, while Cruise has 240 electric Chevy Bolt vehicles, which cost about the same as a ride-sharing service.
The system works by people 'calling' the car via an app on their phone and, just like ride-sharing services such as Uber, tracking it on the screen until it reaches their location.
CUT OFF: After the officer shouts through its window, a Waymo technician hears and is able to remotely disable the car
RESTRAINING ORDER: The officer tries using a flare in a bid to obscure the car's cameras while barking: 'No! You stay!'
The car navigates using an array of radar, lidar (laser imaging) and spinning sensors on the roof, front, back and sides, as well as cameras which collect data in real time. It uses AI to steer and its algorithms allow the car to improve its performance over time as it learns to adapt to surroundings.
Once it arrives, you unlock the doors via the app, buckle up and press 'start' to begin the ride. You can play music, adjust the temperature and charge your phone.
Riders have described the experience as 'surreal'. One passenger, Shelby Church, said: 'I felt like I was in a futuristic movie.
'When it first started driving, I was freaking out.'
While tech companies claim their cars are safe, the reality has proved to be far less rosy. After a Cruise car rear-ended a bus in March, the company recalled the software on all of its cars.
Cruise founder Kyle Vogt said: 'We do not expect our vehicles to run into the back of a city bus under any conditions, so even a single incident like this was worthy of immediate study.'
In February, San Francisco's fog rolled in from the bay, causing several cars to come to a grinding halt in the middle of a busy street because their sensors could not 'see' through the haze.
While human drivers honked their horns, there was no way around. A two-mile traffic jam built up before technicians arrived, manually took over the controls and cleared the street.
When a robotaxi was pulled over by police for driving at night with no headlights, it stopped briefly before 'making a run for it' across an intersection.
The footage went viral on social media. 'Are you serious? How does that happen?' one baffled onlooker exclaims.
The most infamous incident took place in February, but only became public knowledge earlier this month when police released bodycam footage (pictured above) of an encounter between a robotaxi and a police officer who was controlling traffic at the scene of a fire.
As the Waymo rolls towards the officer he shouts: 'No! You stay!'
Officers
