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I vividly remember the first time that I buckled my 8-year-old son into a 4,000 pound, AI powered robot, pressed a button, and sent us careening through the streets of San Francisco with no one behind the steering wheel. We were riding a Waymo, one of the first self-driving cars to offer public rides in selected U.S. cities, our own city of San Francisco included. After a few minutes of riding, I asked my son what he thought. I feel . . . he said, taking a long pause before responding, . . . uncomfortable. But, its really cool! I suspect hes not alone in feeling that way. According to data from AAA, 61% of Americans consider themselves afraid to ride in a self-driving car, with only 13% saying that they fully trust the technology. Yet people are immensely fascinated by these AI-powered machinesand surprisingly inclined to use them. A study in the journal Science and Public Policy explored early public dialogue around self-driving vehicles, finding that The investment and excitement surrounding self-driving vehicles are huge. Thats borne out by real-world data. In cities like San Francisco that adopted self-driving tech, autonomous rides now account for over 25% of all rideshare trips, surpassing the market share of companies like Lyft. Waymo has nearly 1,000 self-driving cars cruising the citys streets on any given day. I ride self-driving Waymo vehicles 23 times per week, and heres what I can tell you: They’re surprisingly boring. And thats their superpower. Summon the robots When I tell friends and colleagues from other cities about my Waymo habit, they usually assume that summoning a self-driving car requires some kind of high-tech, sci-fi-like process. Perhaps theres a glowing pendant you hold up in the sky, or some kind of supercomputing device that the company secretly issues to its cabal of riders. Maybe there are incantations. In reality, the process of calling up a Waymo is almost exactly like booking an Uber or Lyft. Waymo has an app with a user interface that looks entirely cribbed from the apps of its human-driven competition. You specify your destination, enter a credit card, and watch as a little animated car slowly approaches you on a map. Except instead of meeting John in a Kia Optima with a 4.93 rating, your vehicle is an anonymous robot with a rapidly spinning laser scanner on top. When your Waymo arrives, it pulls to the side of the road, trying its best not to block traffic. As annoyed human drivers curse under their breath and assertively careen around you (just like with a real Uber!), you climb inside, buckle your seatbelt, and press a button on the dashboard. Its steering wheel spinning as if controlled by some benign, rideshare-giving poltergeist, your Waymo turns into traffic, and youre off. During my first Waymo trip, I felt much like my sonnervous, excited, in awe of the tech. By my second Waymo ride, it was already starting to feel old-hat. Today, after more than a year of riding the cars all over San Francisco, it feels entirely normal. The fact that Im being chauffeured around town by an AI-powered, laser-studded robot barely registers. What does register is the surprisingly delightful sensory experience of riding in one of these super high-tech carsand the immense, almost subversive pleasure of being totally alone. No person, please Sartre famously said Hell is other people. He was talking about the existential angst of the human condition. But he could just as easily have been describing a bad Uber ride. As a professional news and travel photographer, Ive taken a lot of Ubers. And while most drivers are great, Ive had some truly bad experiences. Ive had drivers who appear to be on substances, who ask me probing questions about my life (one demanded to know, point-blank, How much do you make per year? and was unwilling to accept a noncommittal answer without a dollar figure attached), and drivers who seem to believe my airport ride across the Bay Bridge is secretly a time trial on the Nuremberg ring. And Im luckymany experiences are far worse. Data from the Government Accountability Office shows that over 4,600 people were sexually assaulted in rideshare vehicles in 2019. At least 19 people were killed in rideshare-related assaults. Both drivers and riders are at risk. To be clear, the vast majority of traditional rideshare trips end well, and rideshare companies are doing more and more to keep people safe. Still, even if a trip isnt outright dangerous, there are times where you simply dont feel like sharing space with another personsmelling their cologne, breathing their air, and answering their questions about your life. Without a human driver, Waymos offer something that no rideshare vehicle can providesolitude. As you cruise through your city in one of the companys cars, youre present in the world around you. Yet simultaneously, youre totally alone. Relaxing spa music plays over the cars speakers. The leather-wrapped seats are clean and cool to the touch (Waymo uses Jaguar I-Pace vehicles, a luxury electric SUV that retails for over $75,000). A map shows your surroundings and ride time, complete with cheerful icons representing cyclists, pedestrians, and fellow drivers. Its pleasant, almost meditative. And people appear to love it. Again, when given the choice between Waymo and traditional rideshare vehicles, San Franciscans are increasingly choosing Waymoeven though a study by the rideshare data company Obi shows Waymo rides cost up to $11 more. Why? As Obis chief revnue officer told TechCrunch, they like being alone. Back to the future Self-driving car skeptics usually criticize the tech on safety grounds, or claim that its an overhyped, faddish technology that riders will try once and abandon. Most critics compare the tech to traditional rideshares. What theyre missing is the fact that riding in a self-driving car isnt like a traditional rideshare at all. Indeed, the whiz-bang sci-fi coolness of the tech quickly becomes boring. Its the unique solitude and independence of the experiencenot the fancy AI techthat makes it an entirely new way of traveling. As with public transit, youre moving through your city without needing to directly move yourself. Yet on public transit, youre always surrounded by other people. Here, youre not. In a private car, youre alone. But you can never direct your attention away from the road for long enough to truly notice and experience your surroundings. During a recent Waymo ride, I realized that the technology reminded me most of a far older piece of transportation techthe horse. If youve ever ridden on horseback, you know that you can never truly control your horseyou can merely suggest to it where youd like it to go, and trust that the horsean autonomous entity capable of acting on its ownwill decide to act on your suggestions. You also cant crash a horse. If you direct your attention away from the task of ridingor even drop the reins entirelyyour horse will keep right on following its path. It can sense the space around it, and wants to walk into a tree even less than you do. As a kid, I even remember riding on old rental horses that knew their trails and routines so well, theyd turn around and head back to the stable of their own accord when your 60 minutes of riding time was up. Riding a Waymo feels similar. Youre in charge to a degree, but ultimately youre ceding the task of moving your body to an independent, nonhuman intelligence. You give up control, yes. But you gain something elsethe ability to move through the world while fully experiencing it. Alone and freed from the task of directing your own movement, you can open the window and watch city life unfold around you in an almost cinematic wayor just close your eyes and truly tune out for a moment. The AI is the boring part If the AI powering your Waymo constantly made its presence known, it would distract from this experience. Instead, the fact that the AI tech quickly becomes mundaneunnoticable, evenfacilitates this entirely new way of moving. Last month, I took another first-time rider on a Waymo trip; my boomer-age mom. Seated behind the nonexistent driver, my mom told me she quickly forgot we were riding in an AI robot. We could chat and catch up without another person eavesdropping onor perhaps joining inour conversation. It was a pleasant ride. Waymos AI facilitated the experience, but nothing about it felt especially high-tech or futuristic. Ultimatelybeyond the economics, or the novelty, or the safetythats why self-driving cars will succeed. Theyre a uniquely pleasant way to get around. Their technology is boring, fading into the background. And thats what makes them great.
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E-Commerce
New York City Mayor Eric Adams ended his struggling reelection campaign Sunday, an acknowledgment that he was no longer a credible contender after a year of scandal and political turmoil.In a video released on social media, Adams spoke proudly of his tenure as mayor. But he said his now-dismissed federal corruption case left voters wary of him, and “constant media speculation” about his future made it impossible to raise enough money to run a serious campaign.“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” he said.Adams did not endorse any of the remaining candidates in the race, but he warned of “insidious forces” using local government to “advance divisive agendas.”“That is not change, that is chaos,” Adams said. “Instead, I urge New Yorkers to choose leaders not by what they promise, but by what they have delivered.”Adams’ capitulation could potentially provide a lift to the campaign of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow centrist who portrayed himself as the only candidate able to beat the Democratic Party’s nominee, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani.It is unclear, though, whether enough Adams supporters will shift their allegiances to Cuomo to make a difference.Mamdani, 33, would be the city’s youngest and most liberal mayor in generations if elected. He beat Cuomo decisively in the Democratic primary by campaigning on a promise try to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa remain in the race In a statement after Adams’ announcement, Mamdani took aim at Cuomo, who is trying to make a political comeback after resigning the governor’s office after being accused of sexual harassment by multiple women.“New York deserves better than trading in one disgraced, corrupt politician for another. On November 4th, we are going to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas and deliver a government every New Yorker can be proud of,” Mamdani said.Cuomo, in a statement on social media, praised Adams for “putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition.”“We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them,” Cuomo said.Republican Curtis Sliwa also remains in the race, though his candidacy has been undercut from within his own party; Trump in a recent interview called him “not exactly prime time.” Rough showing in polls Speculation that Adams wouldn’t make it to Election Day has been rampant for a year. His campaign was severely wounded by both the bribery case and liberal anger over his warm relationship with President Donald Trump. He skipped the Democratic primary and got on the ballot as an independent.Polls conducted in early September illustrated his challenges. One poll by The New York Times and Siena University and another by Quinnipiac University showed likely voters favoring Mamdani over Cuomo, with Sliwa and Adams trailing further behind.The Quinnipiac poll suggested the gap between Mamdani and Cuomo could narrow if Adams dropped out. The Times/Siena poll suggested that if both Adams and Sliwa withdrew, Mamdani’s advantage over Cuomo could shrink even further.Sliwa, though, has repeatedly insisted he will not quit.“Curtis Sliwa is the only candidate who can defeat Mamdani,” his spokesperson, Daniel Kurzyna, said Sunday.In recent weeks, Trump administration intermediaries interested in blocking Mamdani’s path to victory by getting him into a one-on-one matchup with Cuomo had approached Adams to see if he could be coaxed out of the contest with an offer of a government job.Amid reports on those discussions, Adams called a news conference where he pledged to keep running and derided Cuomo and Mamdani as “spoiled brats.” Later, on social media, Adams called Cuomo “a liar and a snake.” Indictment overshadows progress Adams, 65, is the city’s second Black mayor. A former New York City police captain and Brooklyn borough president, he took office in 2022 promising to crack down on crime and revitalize a city still bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic.On his signature issue, he succeeded. Crime rates that ticked upward after COVID-19 hit the city have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, though it’s unclear how much that had to do with Adams’ policies.But scandals and corruption probes have crippled Adams’ chances at another term.Over a head-spinning period of weeks last year, his police commissioner, schools chancellor and several deputy mayors resigned following a series of federal raids on their homes. None have faced criminal charges.Then, in late September, federal prosecutors brought fraud and bribery charges accusing Adams of accepting illegal campaign contributions and steep travel discounts from a Turkish official and others, and in exchange later accelerating the opening of Turkey’s diplomatic building, among other favors. Trump intervenes Adams denied wrongdoing and pledged to remain in office. He also began speaking warmly about Trump, then seen as having a growing chance of regaining the White House. He defended Trump in media briefings, urged his party to tone down rhetoric against the Republican and refrained from criticizing him.After Trump won, Adams met with Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan.Then, in February, Trump’s Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop the charges against Adams so the mayor could assist with the Republican president’s immigration agenda.The extraordinary intervention triggered fresh tumult in City Hall and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, with some of Adams’ closest allies suggesting he had struck a deal with the White House for his freedom.Adams announced he would skip the June Democratic primary but would stay in the race.In late August, Adams former top adviser who served as a campaign volunteer was hit with fresh bribery charges. Another former aide was removed from the campaign after handing a potato chip bag full of cash to a local reporter.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has endorsed Mamdani, said after Adams’ announcement that she has been proud to have worked with him for the past four years, adding in her statement that he leaves the city “better than he inherited it.” This story has been corrected to reflect that Adams said “New Yorkers should choose leaders” by what they have delivered, not “leaders should choose leaders” by what they have delivered. Jake Offenhartz and Anthony Izaguirre, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Today (Monday, September 29) is National Coffee Day. To celebrate, many coffee shops and eateries are promoting discounts and freebies. Keep these National Coffee Day deals and freebies in mind when stopping to get your daily dose of caffeine. Bruegger’s Bagels Rewards members can get a free hot or iced coffee with a purchase when ordering in the app. Burger King Burger King Royal Perks rewards members can get a free medium iced coffee with a minimum purchase of $1 when ordering through the Burger King app. Members must activate the offer before placing an order. Caribou Coffee On September 29, receive a free medium hot or iced classic latte with a purchase of another beverage when ordering in-store or through the Caribou Coffee app. Dunkin Dunkin’ Rewards members can get a free medium coffee with hot or iced coffee with a purchase when ordering in the Dunkin’ app. Dutch Bros On September 29, customers who buy a “Drink More Coffee” hat in-store will get any drink of their choice for free. Einstein Bros. Bagels On September 29, Einstein Bros. Rewards members can get any size free hot or iced coffee with purchase when ordering in-app or online. Krispy Kreme The donut chain that loves to give things away for free is getting in on the action. On September 29, get a free medium hot or iced coffee and a free donut of your choice, with no purchase necessary. Paris Baguette PB rewards members can get a free medium hot or iced coffee with purchase through September 29. To join, download the Paris Baguette app. Pret a Manger On September 29, get a free 16 oz. Barista-made drink for free. Drink options include hot or iced coffees, lattes, cappuccinos, and more. Starbucks Through September 29, when purchasing a hot or iced brewed coffee of any size, Starbucks Rewards members will earn 100 bonus stars, which can be redeemed for a free hot or iced brewed coffee or tea, bakery item, or packaged snack. Members must activate the offer within the Starbucks app before placing their order.
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E-Commerce
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