The AI Future is Now! Artificial Intelligence-Driven Cars Are Here

Thanks to artificial intelligence, the driverless car is finally here!

For years, car companies promised that cars would drive themselves, but it never happened... until now.

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Now, Google has harnessed artificial intelligence (AI) to create a driverless car called Waymo.
It works kind of like Uber. You open the Waymo app, request a ride, and within minutes, a driverless car shows up.

My executive producer, Maxim Lott, went to Phoenix and San Francisco to learn more about it. He rode in a Waymo with former Argo driverless car executive Alex Roy.

The two sat in the back, since no human needs to sit in the front. The wheel moves itself, as if a ghost were driving.

Waymo's data shows it is already safer than human drivers.

How do the cars manage that?

Lott explains the technology and future of self-driving cars in the full video above.

** Technical advice from Mark Palmer **

[orangecrate]

The real threat is that regulators will try to ban traditional cars. You’re not taking my Mustang, or my guns😉

[hotrodhendrix]

Improving technology isn't a bad thing as long as it does not become a requirement.

[SeenChk]

I'm not scared of driverless cars. I'm scared of regulators banning me from driving myself.

[bobtuiliga]

I can foresee in my lifetime the banning of human-driven cars on the grounds of safety or traffic flow. It will start on certain roads and expand from there. As a car enthusiast and libertarian this just fills me with despair :(

[jonmarler]

My only fear with autonomous vehicles is that once the technology is good enough, and accepted by the public, that government will ban humans from driving cars. Or they will make the requirements for a drivers license so enormous, that most people simply won't be able to obtain one.

[stopthebox]

Driverless cars = total control of your movement, or no movement at all if you think the wrong way.

[harrydecker]

Driverless cars appear to do well in those areas where climate is nice most of the year. How are they going to do in cities with harsh winters and strong winds and blinding rains and flooded streets?

[hereticsaint]

First we have the self-driving cars, then we'll have legislation that restricts cars with human drivers. Next, the only thing you'll be able to have is a driverless car. Then they'll decrease the supply of them. They'll shut them off whenever they feel like. You will be at their mercy. But it'll all be for our safety!

[glsracer]

I like the idea of driverless cars. What I don't like is the slippery slope that automated cars create. Eventually this could cause insurance costs to sky rocket and/or enable the government to restrict the use of standard cars in order to control the population

[AndyFromm]

I want to see them take on an average Minnesota winter 😂🤣

[beebtv]

If there's a shutdown switch for passengers that would stop the car if the system went haywire I'd consider taking a ride.
I never would completely surrender my safety to technology without a kill switch.

[westsenkovec]

_"Anything to stop woman from driving"_ is a phrase that can singlehandedly stop this dystopian nightmare.

[AdamKlownzinger]

I think this is awesome for people who want to use it like myself. It should not be banned. It also should not be REQUIRED. New technology is great because of the OPTIONS it gives us

[ds]

Driverless cars, and AI in general, are a catastrophic threat to what remains of human autonomy and freedom. They are simply too easy for central authority to control for reasons having nothing to do with traffic safety and everything to do with political domination.

Further, we are already FAR too reliant on electronics. Remember rule one of engineering - mechanical and as simple as possible for the function at hand is always most reliable. Electronic data systems are always (ALWAYS) hackable by their nature, and would be easily destroyed by nuclear detonation at an altitude of 300 miles unless hardened with hugely expensive Faraday cages. Such an attack would doom us to the collapse of our supply chains and for many, a long, painful death from starvation and the breakdown of civilization and social order.

For that matter, even a solar, geomagnetic storm similar to that of the Carrington Event (1859) would disable everything from our automobiles to our dishwashers leaving us helpless and vulnerable.

We are too eager to look at the shiny next thing. John Stossel, I usually agree with you, but you have this one dead wrong.

[Jubeidono]

Great way for the government to control it off a cliff.

[MercuryXR]

Two years ago, here in Chandler, Arizona, I had a WAYMO van turn left onto a side street right in front of me when I was on my motorcycle. There was no other traffic around. It literally missed me by 1 foot. The thing never knew I was there. Let me tell ya, it’s more than scary to see that front bumper right at your leg and still coming. I immediately rode to their office off of 56th St. and filed a complaint. Never heard back.

[diggingattycho]

There is something very important that is being overlooked. Human contact, taking taxies, ubers, whatever. You get to talk to somebody, this high tech world is driving us to be more and more isolated.

[iuruqzu]

Driving is possibly one of the greatest privileges and expressions of freedom people have. It's a gift to those living in the modern world that such a thing remains so affordable and within reach.

I completely understand how authoritarian politicians salivate at the idea of "keeping you safe" by removing such a freedom. What vexes me greatly if seeing stupid people so enthusiastically looking forward to it.

[ricardocantoral]

Personally, AI makes me nervous and it also depresses me. This is moving humanity out of it's use in society.

[mattlance]

What happens when not of the program gets hacked or worse and locks you in or a mob attacks you and you need to get away? Thousands of people would have died in Hawaii with these cars when the cops told the people to turn around and drive back into the fire. These cars would have stopped in the fire and unalived you.