Imagine a future where Chicagoans get around in free driverless cars
It smells like pine air freshener inside. She glanced around quickly. The room was clean and the seat next to her was gray and plush. The driver and passenger seats are still there, as is the steering wheel. It's just a regular SUV turned into a self-driving car. An evolution. Interesting. Her mother knocked on the window and Zeru was shocked when it opened. She and her mother looked at each other for a moment, then both laughed. “Wow,” her mother said, a look of surprise on her face. “I know.” Zeru agreed.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“I'm going to the lake,” Zeru said. “I'll be fine.”
“Call me if you need me. I can come get you.”
“Please prepare for your trip,” the automated voice announced. Her mother jumped back as if the SUV would suddenly run over her.
“Relax, Mom,” Zeru said. “Its sensors know you're there. It won't move unless you're at a safe distance.”
“I'm going to believe it when I see it,” her mother said.
“You're almost there.”
Her mother waved as the car slowly pulled away. Zeru also waved.
Then she was alone, her life in the SUV's hands.
“This is so weird,” she muttered, watching the steering wheel turn on its own. It was her first time alone in a moving vehicle. There was no one there, but she couldn't shake the feeling of someone's presence; something Everything is under control. It was like being driven away by a ghost. “Or I should say a nobody,” she said to herself, laughing.
Her smile disappeared as the car stopped and turned onto the road.
She believes in the science behind self-driving cars. The technology has been around for years, and she's been working on the new taxi service for the past few months. The idea of being able to order food on your phone like an Uber without having to deal with someone looking at her weirdly, asking awkward questions, maybe a serial killer, etc. is a really cool idea. More importantly, it would free her from her family. Whenever she invited one of them for a ride, they responded with a strange mixture of pity, control, and responsibility. She doesn't think they knew they had done it. It always made her feel pathetic and childish, even when one of her younger siblings was driving her. Oh, to get rid of that feeling.
However, at this moment, she was so frightened that she wanted to scream. She dug her nails into the armrests of her chair. Despite all the research and reassurances from the customer service people she spoke to, things are very different now because it's happening in real time. What if something goes wrong and the calculations are wrong? What if the other driver did something crazy that the SUV couldn't understand or adapt to? What if a solar flare wiped out the entire car?
“Shit!” she screamed as the SUV turned the corner. “I'm going to die!”
Then they were on their way. Zeru breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, bullets still sweating. The vehicle was traveling exactly the speed limit, which meant everyone else was passing her. A few people looked twice, a few pointed, and two people raised their phones to record videos. Zelu was too stressed and didn't pay much attention to this. They were approaching the highway.