FOLLOW THAT CAR

CHASING A ROBOTAXI FOR HOURS AND HOURS IS WEIRD AND REVELATORY, AND BORING, AND JEALOUSY-INDUCING. BUT THE DRIVERLESS WORLD IS COMING FOR ALL OF US. SO GET IN AND BUCKLE UP.

- JOHN GRAVOIS, PARESH DAVE, MEGHAN HERBST, EVELYN KWONG, AARIAN MARSHALL, AND MARIA STRESHINSKY

Nearly everywhere on earth, when you're stuck in traffic, you're still surrounded by the usual sea of heads attached to shoulders attached to arms attached to steering wheels. But in a tiny handful of places-in Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Wuhan, China-you can find yourself flanked by taxis with no one in the drivers' seats, picking up passengers, unsupervised by any human. And if you live in one of those cities, the sight probably doesn't even prompt a double-take anymore. It's like the future is suspended between those who've never encountered it-and those who are already a little blind to it.

Granted, practically everyone has been numbed by the hype cycle. Autonomous cars-one of the canonical sci-fi conveniences-were the hottest thing in tech for a few years around 2018.

Then a self-driving Uber being tested in Arizona killed a jaywalking pedestrian, regulatory scrutiny intensified, and a bunch of self-driving projects shut down amid a general period of disenchantment with tech. The whole autonomous driving industry started to seem less worthy of being taken seriously, if not completely on the ropes.