We Are Officially One Step Closer To Getting Self-Driving Taxis In The United States And It's Fucking Terrifying

[Source] - The electric, fully driverless vehicle is designed as a ‘carriage-style car that sits four passengers facing each other and is the first in the industry that is capable of operating up to 75 miles per hour. It is equipped with two battery packs that provide the vehicle with up to 16 continuous hours on a single charge.

Zoox plans to soon launch an app for its future ride-hailing service in major cities across the US including San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Cameras, radar and LIDAR sensors are mounted on all four corners of the vehicle to eliminate ‘typical blind spots’ and provides it with a 270-degree field of view.

The system allows the vehicle to consistently track objects next to and behind it, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users.  

Yeah, yeah, I get all the benefits of this self-driving taxi and self-driving cars in general. I'll even buy one down the road. Why? Because I prefer to just zone out, check Twitter, sleep or anything really besides drive. I've driven enough in my life. Going 9 hours from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and back every break is enough to make me feel content driving. But this? 

This is fucking terrifying.

The reason I do drive is because I'm in control. I go the speed I want. I stop when I want. I break when I want. It's me and I'm selfish. I don't care this this will prevent sweet old Grandmas across the country in boat sized Cadillac's from getting behind the wheel. That should be encouraged already. It's terrifying that everything is out of our control. I don't think this is going to be relaxing one bit, even if it's just a taxi. Give me the awkward hello talk 100 out of 100 times right now. 

Trust me, I get that self-driving cars are inevitable and will be the norm probably in our lifetime. I just can't imagine that sort of world. Then again I couldn't have imagined a world with HD or 4k television. I couldn't imagine a world where I hit a button and a driver picked me up. Here's what I'm really scared about though. Are we going to lose the power of the middle finger? There's something so relieving about hitting someone with the middle finger who is in the left hand lane driving under the speed limit for no reason whatsoever. Just a relaxing move. What happens if there's just no one there? It doesn't hit the same

I still can't decide if not having a steering wheel is weirder or not. I just know it's terrifying. How many times does shit just break or not work? All the time! My laptop randomly reset back to 2014. No rhyme or reason just a weird bug during an update. Now I'm supposed to trust this? I don't think so. 

This is also the oldest I've felt. I'm not ready for drastic change yet, even if it is better for me. I don't care if it'll improve my life by not having to worry about drive or ole Edith in car in front of me. I'm not ready for that life.