GoKawiilNew Yorker essay reflects on riding Waymo robotaxis through old driving routes
A personal essay recounts a writer's experience riding in a Waymo self-driving car along the same Bay Area surface roads she once drove as a teenager, since Waymo vehicles remain barred from freeways. The piece juxtaposes the autonomous ride with memories of a serious car accident she had as a young driver, and muses on how driverless cars change the emotional relationship people have with automobiles.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The essay highlights a lingering regulatory limit on Waymo's operations—freeway access—that shapes where and how these robotaxis can currently be used. It also surfaces a broader cultural question, as autonomous vehicles spread, about what is lost or changed when driving shifts from a personal, autonomous act to a service performed by a machine.
- Waymo vehicles are still restricted from freeway driving, confining rides to surface streets.
- The essay is a personal reflection rather than a report on new Waymo technology or policy.
- It raises broader questions about cars as personal space versus Waymo vehicles as shared, ownerless services.
Source: newyorker.com — Molly Fischer, 2026-10-21
Published there as: “Learning to live with Waymos”
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