The tech industry is ready for robot taxis. But are the rest of us willing to go along for the ride?
- This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
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In today's big story, robot taxis feel like the future of transportation. Here's what it's like to ride in them.
What's on deck:
- Markets: Hedge funds' August report cards are in.
- Tech: Google cofounder Sergey Brin is facing another lawsuit tied to a deadly plane crash.
- Business: The biggest flex in customer service these days is getting someone on the phone.
But first, let's grab a cab.
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The big story
Along for the ride
Step aside, Jesus. Robots, take the wheel.
The rise of robot taxis has people ceding control to the machines. Business Insider's Adam Rogers spent a few weeks riding around San Francisco in Waymo's robot taxis to examine the potential future of transportation.
The experience went from totally futuristic to incredibly normal, an example of how quickly we can adapt to things that initially seem straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Don't get me wrong. There was still a bit of white-knuckling during Adam's first ride. "The steering wheel was turning of its own volition, as if I were being driven by a ghost. What I thought was, holy shit!" Adam wrote.
But it wasn't long before Adam was comfortable and critiquing life in the driverless world.
BI's Peter Kafka had a similar takeaway when riding in a Waymo: Initial trepidation and excitement quickly turned into acceptance and treating it like any other taxi ride.
While Adam and Peter might have been early adopters, the rest of the country is mostly TBD. Waymos are only active in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
The robot-taxi revolution has the benefit of the world's richest person on its side.
Elon Musk is all-in on driverless taxis. In fact, he's essentially betting one of his businesses — Tesla — on them being the future.
The EV maker is leaning heavily into an Uber-like ride-hailing service of driverless cars. And what better way to pitch the general population on something than leveraging Hollywood?
Tesla's highly anticipated Robotaxi event next month is reportedly taking place at Warner Bros. Discovery's movie studio, writes BI's Ana Altchek.
But Hollywood's glitz and glam and Musk's deep pockets can't address the biggest hangup for robot-taxi skeptics: safety.
Supporters of driverless cars tout how they're actually safer than human drivers. And in many ways, they're not wrong. Machines aren't driving while texting or arguing with their kid in the backseat. And as powerful as Nvidia's GPUs might be, robots can't get drunk or high before getting behind the wheel.
But they're also not perfect. Glitches and accidents in robot taxis range from the humourous to the horrifying.
Ultimately, not unlike a fear of flying, the root of the issue stems from people wanting to remain in control. If an accident is going to happen, at least it can be on their terms, so the thinking goes.
Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, it's one the robot taxi community will need to address.
News brief
Top headlines
- Nvidia recorded the biggest single-day wipeout by a US company.
- The stock market's biggest risk this week is a hot August jobs report, BofA says.
- What it's like working at Tesla's Autopilot labeling facilities, where your keystrokes and bathroom breaks are tracked.
- Boar's Head 'negligence' led to the listeria-related death of a Holocaust survivor, his family says in lawsuit.
- Elon Musk says he 'can't wait' to work in Trump's White House.
- Justice Department takes a major step toward an antitrust lawsuit against Nvidia.
- Burning Man, tech bros' favorite festival, got engulfed in a huge dust storm that snarled exits from the desert camp.
3 things in markets
- Goldman Sachs is all-in on … gold. The bank sees the metal hitting $2,700 per ounce by early next year, a 7% rise. From impending rate cuts to a hedge against geopolitical risks, here's why the firm is so bullish on gold.
- Big volatility meant big returns for Walleye. The $4.8 billion multi-strategy fund finished the wild month for stocks up 3.4%. Here's how other top funds like Millennium and Citadel fared.
- The dark side of rate cuts. Everyone's begging for some relief on interest rates, but it's not all rainbows and lollipops. If the Fed makes deep cuts in the next year, as many expect, that would mean the economy weakened significantly. In a similar vein, JPMorgan notes rate cuts won't necessarily be rocket fuel for stocks.
3 things in tech
- Instagram's newest update combines two popular features — and advertisers benefit from it. The social media app is adding comments to Instagram Stories, bridging Gen Z's two favorite features: Stories and DMs. Here's why the change is especially helpful to Insta's advertisers.
- Google cofounder Sergey Brin is facing a second lawsuit over a deadly plane crash. In 2023, two pilots died after a plane owned by Brin crashed off the coast of California. Now, one pilot's family is suing Brin, his private family office Bayshore Global, Google, and a number of related companies in Santa Clara Superior Court, alleging multiple counts of negligence.
- Wake up, babe. New AI product just dropped. The new feature from Spotter scans creators' YouTube libraries, then gives them ideas for videos, titles, concept art, and more. It's already got some big names behind it, with top YouTubers like MrBeast testing it out in a beta program.
3 things in business
- Human assistance is now a luxury item in customer service. In the age of customer service chatbots and endless FAQs, the ability to speak to a real human being is a privilege — not a right. As talking on the phone becomes even more exclusive, some companies are finding ways to charge customers to speak with an actual human.
- ISO: Netflix's next ad leader. The streamer's advertising president is on the hunt for an ad sales boss who will help the company reach its lofty advertising ambitions. Insiders say the ideal candidate will be less Madison Avenue and more Silicon Valley.
- The collapse of cable TV is deepening. In Q2, the pay-TV industry lost 1.6 million subscribers. While it's not the worst loss the field has suffered, there's really no reason to think the slide is going to slow down. As one analyst put it: "there is no longer any floor."
In other news
- Target customers are swapping lids on Owala bottles — and it's causing chaos in some stores.
- The Philadelphia Eagles want to make it very clear they have not endorsed Kamala Harris.
- The creator of the US Open's popular $23 cocktail puts a spin on the recipe when he makes it at home
What's happening today
- Donald Trump participates in Fox News town hall.
The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. Milan Sehmbi, fellow, in London. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.