Joe Wicks sparked concern among his followers on Sunday, as he shared a video of him hiring a driverless taxi to take him and his daughter Indie to the cinema in Santa Monica.
The Body Coach, 39, filmed himself booking a Waymo car and going for a ride with his six-year-old daughter, as he praised it as an ‘incredible experience’.
Waymo is an autonomous ride-hailing service whose parent company is Google, which currently operates in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles with plans to expand to Austin.
Joe filmed the entire experience, commenting on how ‘intelligent’ the technology was and insisting it was a ‘really calm and relaxed journey’.
However, his followers on Instagram were not impressed as they pointed out how the service would lead to the loss of jobs for taxi drivers and less human interaction.
Joe Wicks sparked concern among his followers on Sunday, as he shared a video of him hiring a driverless taxi to take him and his daughter Indie to the cinema in Santa Monica
The Body Coach, 39, filmed himself booking a Waymo car and going for a ride with his six-year-old daughter, as he praised it as an ‘incredible experience’
Waymo is an autonomous ride-hailing service whose parent company is Google , which currently operates in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles with plans to expand to Austin
While others voiced their concerns for the safety of self-driving cars, as they admitted they would be ‘anxious’ about putting their child’s life in the ‘hand of a computer’.
Joe began the video by showing himself booking the car, saying: ‘So I’ve just hailed my very first Waymo, fully autonomous taxi here in Santa Monica. And I’ve got my little booster seat for Indy and we’re going on a little date night.’
As the vehicle pulled up, he commented: ‘Here it is, and there’s no driver in there! It’s pulling over to park somewhere safer, that is mad!’
The fitness star sat in the back with Indie and showed the empty drivers seat as the car began to take off, saying: ‘Oh my gosh, hold my hand Indie! This is weird. We’re trusting a robot, it’s basically a computer.’
Joe drew attention to the display screen, which showed how the Waymo used its 360-degree cameras and light detection to create picture of the surroundings.
He said: ‘This is mad, look it shows you on the car what’s on the road. The detail, look there’s a person there clocked. It’s so accurate, it’s picking up every single car, every traffic cone, every person with a stroller – you see the detail. It’s so intelligent.’
After arriving at their destination, Joe asked his daughter for her thoughts on the journey, saying: ‘So the question is Indie, would you get a Waymo again or would you rather get an Uber and talk to a human?’
As the little girl declared she would choose a Waymo, they watched the vehicle drive off, with Joe saying: ‘And there it is, just off to pick up another kid or another family. Did you enjoy it?’
Joe filmed the entire experience, commenting on how ‘intelligent’ the technology was and insisting it was a ‘really calm and relaxed journey’
Joe drew attention to the display screen, which showed how the Waymo used its 360-degree cameras and light detection to create picture of the surroundings, saying: ‘This is mad’
However, his followers on Instagram were not impressed as they pointed out how the service would lead to the loss of jobs for taxi drivers and less human interaction
After arriving at their destination, Joe asked his daughter for her thoughts on the journey, saying: ‘So the question is Indie, would you get a Waymo again or would you rather get an Uber and talk to a human?’
And giving his own opinion, he said: ‘Well that was an incredible experience and was actually a really calm, relaxed journey. I didn’t feel stressed, I didn’t feel anxious’
Giving his own opinion, he said: ‘Well that was an incredible experience and was actually a really calm, relaxed journey. I didn’t feel stressed, I didn’t feel anxious. Indie, how did you feel during the actual ride? I liked it.’
But in the comments of the post, his fans had differing opinion and slammed Joe for encouraging the service.
They wrote: ‘Nope. Autonomously driven vehicles have had some serious accidents, plus it’s taking peoples jobs; Less robotics & more humans please’.
‘This video has given me a new level of anxiety; As my partner is a proud London cabbie and worked had to do the knowledge I think this is a terrible idea’.
‘Hell no and def not with a child; There’s a lot of people saying computers are safer than humans but what about when people start hacking these cars…’
‘Very sad to see. Job loses, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer but the part which broke my heart was the child saying they’d prefer a robot over a human next time… We are losing our identity as humans’.
‘There is no way I am putting mine and my daughters life in the hands of a computer; No because a taxi driver has now lost their job!’
‘No chance, more computers taking somebodies income, also taking away more social communication between beings; No! Just too weird & get anxious’.
However, his followers were not impressed as they pointed out how the service would lead to the loss of jobs for taxi drivers and less human interaction, while voicing their concerns for the safety of self-driving cars and putting their child’s life in the ‘hand of a computer’
‘This is not the way society should be going, scary; Another job gone, another way to avoid human interaction not good. Shouldn’t encourage it!’
‘it’s a big No from me. I prefer a human being to drive me. Also we have to think about the next generation. if we allow Robots to do our jobs, there will be no jobs for your kids or all kids around the world.’
While former soap star Gemma Atkinson echoed the comments, writing: ‘I don’t even trust my laptop let alone a car’.
But several other fans voiced their excitement for driverless taxis, praising the development in technology and saying they’d feel safer not being driven by a human.
They wrote: ‘Omg as a woman I blooming love this!! I hate going in taxis alone so this is perfect’.
‘Ooo thats interesting! Humanity is progressing (as it always does) I’m ok with it tbh’.
‘I love this! No small talk. And no anxious thoughts that your Uber driver is going to take your life.’
Waymo AV works by using light detection to create a 3D picture of what’s going on around the vehicle and uses lidar sensors to send millions of ‘laser pulses’ in all directions.
But several other fans voiced their excitement for driverless taxis, praising the development in technology and saying they’d feel safer not being driven by a human
It also has 360-degree cameras that allow it to see in both daylight and low-light conditions to spot traffic lights, construction zones, and other objects from hundreds of meters away
Waymo AV works by using light detection to create a 3D picture of what’s going on around the vehicle and uses lidar sensors to send millions of ‘laser pulses’ in all directions
Waymo started accepting riders in early 2022, but self-driving companies have recently come under fire for accidents involving their autonomous vehicles, despite claims that they are potentially safer than human drivers
The amount of time it takes for a pulse to bounce off an object tells the vehicle how far away a person, car, sidewalk, or any other object is.
It also has 360-degree cameras that allow it to see in both daylight and low-light conditions to spot traffic lights, construction zones, and other objects from hundreds of meters away.
The vehicle’s radar detector provides information about another object’s distance and speed while its onboard computer collates all the data from the cameras and sensors in real-time to identify the different objects and plan the best route to its destination.
Waymo started accepting riders in early 2022, but self-driving companies have recently come under fire for accidents involving their autonomous vehicles, despite claims that they are potentially safer than human drivers.
A Waymo vehicle fatally struck a dog while in self-driving mode when a person was test driving the autonomous function in San Francisco in June 2023.
The following month a Waymo in Arizona, caused a three-car pileup when it braked to avoid hitting a downed branch – there was one rider in the vehicle who sustained minor injuries.
In yet another incident, one of Waymo’s driverless vehicles struck a bicyclist in February after allegedly not seeing the person until it was too late.
While other concerns about the safety of passengers in autonomous vehicles have emerged in the wake of several incidents of people attacking the cars.
Earlier this month, a video of a woman in San Francisco being subjected to alleged harassment by two men inside a Waymo went viral (pictured)
It came just a matter of days after a girl’s trip to San Francisco took a sinister turn when a group of men attacked the driverless car they were in (pictured)
Earlier this month, a video of a woman in San Francisco being subjected to alleged harassment by two men inside a Waymo went viral.
The clip saw the 28-year-old woman riding in the self-driving car when it was stopped at a red light and two men approached the vehicle, one blocking it from moving and the other joining in allegedly to harass her.
The video sent shockwaves on social media, highlighting autonomous vehicles’ inability to avoid dangerous situations or people by driving away.
It came just a matter of days after a girl’s trip to San Francisco took a sinister turn when a group of men attacked the driverless car they were in.
A group of individuals jumped onto the hood of a Waymo autonomous vehicle, spray-painted it, and threw objects at the windows.
While in February a Waymo Jaguar taxi was torched with fireworks by a mob of Chinese New Year revellers.
The car became ‘confused’ as the fireworks stopped it dead in the road while the group of celebrators rallied around and destroyed the vehicle around 9pm.
Police said the car was set ablaze by a mob and nobody was inside the vehicle at the time of the incident.
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