Opinion: No one is driving this taxi. What possibly could go wrong?

The empty driver’s seat is shown in a driverless Chevy Bolt car named Peaches carrying Associated Press reporter Michael Liedtke during a ride in San Francisco on Sept 13, 2022. The experience provided a snapshot of the artificial intelligence technology that is advancing toward a goal of improving the lives of humans while still malfunctioning in potentially alarming ways. — AP

SAN FRANCISCO: I won’t forget the first time I took a ride in a car without anyone sitting in the driver’s seat.

It happened one night last September when a Chevy Bolt named Peaches picked me up outside a San Francisco bar. Our ensuing half-hour ride together produced, at first, a titillating display of technology’s promise. Then an unexpected twist made me worry that the encounter had turned into a mistake I would regret.