Waymo and the Rise of the Robotaxis | Test Drive
1/21/202639 min
Ever wondered what it’s like to ride in a Waymo? David and his daughter headed to downtown Austin to take their first trip in a driverless taxi. Together, they documented all the ups, downs, twists and turns. Later, author and former Waymo consultant Larry Burns rides shotgun to talk about how these autonomous vehicles will massively disrupt the auto industry — and why Larry believes the tipping point for making these cars mainstream falls within this decade.
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First 90 secondsRose0:00
[upbeat music] Wondering.
David Brown· Host0:01
Hey there, I'm David Brown, and welcome to Business Wars. [upbeat music] We're starting this episode off a bit differently, and that's because we begin today far from the cozy confines of the studio. We're on the streets of Austin, Texas, where we're trying a little experiment. Having finished the first two episodes in our series on the rise of autonomous vehicles, I couldn't help but wonder what it's really like to be a passenger in a car with no driver. Hey, hey, hey. I think we may have an, a Waymo. It says, "Nice, your pickup is right on time."
Speaker 2· Soundbite1:00
Hello from Waymo.
David Brown· Host1:03
Coming up, you'll get to ride shotgun with my daughter and me. We went downtown to hail one of these robo-taxis and document what it's like to take a ride in one of these cars of the future. See, recently there was a story in the New York Times that basically made the case for the inevitability of self-driving cars. According to that article, the data that's already been gathered suggests that from a public safety standpoint alone, well, it seems undeniable that we're headed toward a driverless