I Saw the Future of the City in Los Angeles. Now, the City Has to Make a Choice.

I saw two visions of the future in Los Angeles last weekend. First, a Waymo Jaguar I-PACE pulled over to pick me up on a busy street in downtown L.A., spinning lidar sensors mounted on the hood like a second set of side mirrors. We inched comfortably through stop-and-go Saturday afternoon traffic and made an impressive left turn ahead of two lanes of oncoming cars as I said my prayers in the passenger seat. On the other hand, the robot lost its nerve trying to turn right across a crosswalk. As pedestrians cleared and the light turned from green to yellow to red, the Waymo remained fixed to the spot.