What was on top of this Lyft driver's car?
August 24, 2023 9:02 PM Subscribe
After requesting a ride on Lyft, this vehicle showed up. There were no Cruise, Waymo, or other self driving car logos on it. What was the weird black thing on the roof of the car that appeared to have cameras on it?
Sorry for the bad photo. The device is the black thing on top of the car, and was shaped like an old film reel, laid flat on a table. There were recessed cameras at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock on the 'film' side of it facing outward, if I'm continuing that comparison. This was in San Francisco, and booked through Lyft.
There were definitely no logos for any of the self driving car companies anywhere on the vehicle - we saw the entire outside of it before it drove off and are 100 percent sure of this. We are in San Francisco and quite familiar with those driving around, for better or worse. We did not book it via Cruise, Waymo, etc
(We declined the ride since it seemed sketchy, and the driver wouldn't answer when asked what was on top of his car.)
If this was like, a mapping or data collection tool, is this a thing now on some vehicles driven for Lyft/Uber?
Sorry for the bad photo. The device is the black thing on top of the car, and was shaped like an old film reel, laid flat on a table. There were recessed cameras at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock on the 'film' side of it facing outward, if I'm continuing that comparison. This was in San Francisco, and booked through Lyft.
There were definitely no logos for any of the self driving car companies anywhere on the vehicle - we saw the entire outside of it before it drove off and are 100 percent sure of this. We are in San Francisco and quite familiar with those driving around, for better or worse. We did not book it via Cruise, Waymo, etc
(We declined the ride since it seemed sketchy, and the driver wouldn't answer when asked what was on top of his car.)
If this was like, a mapping or data collection tool, is this a thing now on some vehicles driven for Lyft/Uber?
Google used to have tons of these, could be a used one?
posted by aspersioncast at 4:51 AM on August 25, 2023
posted by aspersioncast at 4:51 AM on August 25, 2023
It's probably a Lyft / Motional autonomous vehicle with a safety driver.
posted by kschang at 9:27 AM on August 25, 2023
posted by kschang at 9:27 AM on August 25, 2023
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posted by falsedmitri at 9:10 PM on August 24, 2023 [3 favorites]