Driving down the eight hairpin turns of San Francisco’s tourist-ridden Lombard Street in a futuristic self-driving car sounds sexy, adventurous, even terrifying. But in a Zoox vehicle, the experience is remarkably dull, like being piloted by a well-practised taxi driver trying to impress a safety commissioner.
Boring, of course, is a big achievement — a testament to how Zoox, a self-driving start-up launched in 2014, has made quick progress by tackling the most complicated urban settings.
The Toyota Highlander, fitted with Zoox hardware and software, performs each turn with a curious mathematical precision. For now, two safety drivers are present, but they sit idle even as the vehicle navigates through a six-way unprotected intersection.