From wow to new normal: driverless cars cruise the streets of San Francisco

San Francisco residents are starting to use driverless commercial vehicles to get around. Waymo is currently only allowing approved testers to use the service, while Cruise is offering rides to all users between 9pm and 5.30am who request them via their app. — AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: This California summer, passersby on the streets of San Francisco can be divided into two camps: blase locals who are used to a parade of moving cars with no drivers or gobsmacked tourists fumbling for their smartphones to capture this long-promised vision of the future.

Katherine Allen climbs into a white Jaguar, which then pushes out carefully into the traffic in a busy neighbourhood crisscrossed by jaywalkers and cyclists.