Did you miss out on spotting the self-driving Benz when it was in San Francisco earlier this month? No worries, the Mercedes Benz F015 will be back again in two days!
#FilmSFnotice @MercedesBenz self-driving electric car is coming back for more filming on Monday. *car is manned. pic.twitter.com/1xMnVAUlKZ
— Film San Francisco (@Film_SF) March 28, 2015
On Friday night the San Francisco Film Commission tweeted this filming notice, which says a shoot (probably for a commercial) will take place on Monday in Potrero Hill, near Carolina and 22nd Streets. The future isn't quite here, though. The tweet also reveals what we knew all along: there'll be a driver operating the car.
If you want to get a sense of what riding in one is like, New York Times writer Molly Wood went for a test ride in one at the old Alameda naval air station.
Although the one she rode in isn't fully self-automated—she reveals that the route it goes on is pre-programmed—the video gives you a sense of what being a passenger inside of one is like. Many of the interior panels are touch screens, and control of the car can be passed along to any one of the four passengers. It also has some sort of social media connectivity, allowing you to geolocate your friends.
In other words, self-driving cars will finally allow drivers to be safely engrossed in Facebook while on the road. We can't wait.