Driverless cars are San Francisco’s new tourist attraction

When Mr David De Clercq travelled to San Francisco last year, he had a few musts on his itinerary: Go to Alcatraz. Try new restaurants. And ride in a selfdriving car.

Self-driving cars - also known as autonomous vehicles (AVS) or colloquially, robotaxis have been -plying the streets of the US city in some form since 2009 and have been operating commercially since August. The cars are also shaping up as the city's latest tourist attraction.

Mr De Clercq, 42, who splits his time between New Jersey and Sardinia, where he owns restaurants and bars and rents villas, is an avid traveller.

"I love exploring and doing new things," he said. "I knew that I definitely wanted to get a ride while I was in town." Conversations abound on Reddit and social platform X, with visitors seeking advice on how to secure a ride while in San Francisco or be well positioned to spot a driverless car on the go.

While AV companies such as Cruise and Zoox have proliferated in recent years, Waymo, which is owned by Alphabet (Google's parent company), is currently the only company offering rides to the public in San Francisco.

Waymo also operates in the Phoenix metro area, including offering rides to and from Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport.

It is slowly rolling out rides in Los Angeles and testing trips in the San Francisco Peninsula and Austin, Texas.