Autonomously driving vehicles show up in the news at some frequency, so when I first saw them in San Francisco a few days ago, I knew immediately what they were. Surprising perhaps that there were quite a few and also from different companies zipping around. Curious I signed up with Waymo, who has truly driverless vehicles on the road. They are fully electric vehicles from Jaguar with a significant build out of extra cameras on all four corners and on the roof. I was later asked if I trusted the technology enough to ride – which I did, but I realized that many people if not all do, since when you walk around town you come upon them at intersections. Many people pre-occupied with their music or their phones walk through crosswalks not realizing that a driverless car is pulling up, turning or waiting at the red light and I did not see anybody hesitating to cross while their own light was green. When the vehicle arrives to pick you up it displays the acronym of your name on the roof and with the help of the app you can open the door. A few instructions by a friendly voice and off you go while your favorite music is playing. I have to say that I did feel safe throughout. It is somewhat ghostly to see the wheel turn and observe the reactions of the vehicle to what is going on around it. Some of the less smooth moments during driving reminded me of the behavior of our own vehicle, when the driver-assist features like lane control or adaptive speed control are turned on. The car drove very conservatively. The noticeable unusual thing was that it seeks to conduct lane changes more frequently than I would have thought were necessary, many of them were aborted due to the continuously heavy traffic in downtown San Francisco. Still, it always managed to be in the correct lane when needed for a turn. Also, it responds to cars in the adjacent lane, that come very (too?) close by swerving ever so slightly away. This may be a driver’s intuitive reaction but as a passenger I felt it extra strong – perhaps I was not as relaxed as I thought I was! I noticed that the different cars from Waymo did not really interact with each other. They did not flash the high beams when they passed each other on the road, what taxis of the same company commonly do and they also did not offer any favors to each other, e.g. letting a car that attempted a lane change in in front of itself. I do not know how long the driverless vehicles have been in operation in town, but for many people they remain a novelty. Sitting in the passenger seat I saw many people looking and even waving. (Not sure if it was in encouragement or good-bye!) And I found myself peeking into other cars passing us to see who its passengers were – perhaps some kind of tribal instinct! Waymo is looking to expand their service to the highways and was looking for volunteers. I did not sign up but next time I will try!