Woman tries out driverless Uber in the US and reaction is priceless | America | Travel

Elon Musk and Tesla hit the headlines last week with the unveiling of Cybercab – a self-driving taxi the tech mogul claims we’ll be able to purchase for in 2026 for under £23,000.

The vehicles are set to use artificial intelligence and rely solely on cameras and visual-based data to control their movement. Whilst the innovation is still a couple of years away from being rolled out, in a handful of cities in the US customers can already ride in driverless Ubers.

Robotaxis were rolled out in Phoenix, Arizona and California’s Los Angeles and San Francisco earlier this year and it was in the latter city that a British woman plucked up the courage to try out a journey for herself recently.

Kali Thompson (@kalithompson) took to TikTok to share her experience, admitting in caption for her video: “I was so scared.” Her clip began: “In San Francisco they have these driverless cars so you can get an Uber, but there’s no driver in it. They drive you to your destination and they call them ghost cars.”

“I’m kind of scared,” she admitted, laughing nervously as her car appeared in view. Kali then took her place in the passenger seat with her friend in the back as they noticed in amazement that her name had appeared on the infotainment system.

Kali then pressed the ‘Start Ride’ function on the screen and the car set off. “I must put my seatbelt on,” Kali said as she appeared stunned as the vehicle stopped at a junction before turning its steering wheel and setting off once more.

“This is scary,” she declared. “This is what the future is guys, I’m scared.” The car turned another corner as Kali and her pal revealed a second touchscreen in the rear allowing them to choose music to play throughout their trip.

Concluding her review, she told her 267,000 followers: “Okay so we have reached our destination. I’m going to miss him [automated driver]. He’s called Waymo [software company behind the technology] by the way.” Kali’s clip ended with her waving the car off as it headed off to collect its next customer.

TikTok users hailed the invention in response, offering several reasons for their excitement.”As a socially awkward person this is my idea of heaven,” one admitted.

“I’d feel a lot safer in this than a normal taxi with a driver,” added a second. “Oh my god that’s amazing! I would love this because sometimes youu just wanna chill and not talk to anyone,” penned a third.

However, other users admitted their concerns over the idea. “That’s freaky no way, so what would happen if you were in the taxi and computer went down and the car just stopped late at night on your own? pondered one person. “What if you need to get out?” asked a second. “My claustrophobia just couldn’t.”

And a third person confessed: “How are you calm enough to play music, I’d be crying the whole taxi journey.”