Waymo trouble than it's worth

Waymo, the self-driving car, claims that riding in a car with no driver is an experience "second to none." Other experiences "second to none" include open heart surgery, being in traction for six weeks due to orthopedic injuries, and root canals without the benefit of anesthesia.

The funny thing is, Olivia Rodrigo and I were both excited about getting a Driver's License and now I drive alone past your street because you're letting some AI robot drive you to Aldi. We couldn't WAIT to get our licenses so that we could go and vote and help shelve books at the library and pick up groceries for the elderly. Now they tell me, kids are not even eager to get their licenses and don't mind being hauled around by Uber. Hey, at least there's a person driving that thing, and he's a good solid citizen, with no criminal background or propensity to commit violent acts.  As far as you know.

Not that long ago, I was at a county training session down at Dundalk Community College, which has a very steep slope to its main building parking lot, and as we sat and we trained, along came an icy rain, and the next thing you know, cars and trucks were sliding sideways on the ice, innocent of any traction on the slick surface, and that marked my introduction to driverless cars. I still had my 4WD pickup at the time, and it wisely refused to get in on the scrum, staying put a safe distance away from the crunching.

Now Baltimore is next in line to get Waymo taxis, and I would have to say I would rather walk those mean streets than to get into a car with no driver. In other parts of the country, driverless vehicles are driving right past barricades and right into the middle of police incidents (of which Baltimore City has more than its share) and there are reports of Waymos zooming right past stopped school buses with their hazard arms deployed and their flashers a-flashing. The people at Waymo say this is an operational bug and needs to be addressed by computer people. If a child gets off a bus and gets run over by a driverless car, that is a situation that will need to be addressed by mortuary personnel.

I hope the people who run things around here wake up and realize the Jetsons were far more advanced than we are. Driverless cars are antithetical to safety.

And what I am saying is, this is a dumb idea, no matter how many times you call me a Luddite. Just don't call me a Waymo. I ain't going.