General Motors collects data for self-driving technology in Fort Myers

Would you let a computer drive your car for you? In Fort Myers, people are split on the idea of self-driving cars. "If I can just sit in the backseat and just kind of tell it to go home, I'm down with that,” Joshua Bogumil said. "You do whatever you want, instead of just being a slave to staring at the tailpipe of the car in front of you." Clarice Kentwood is less confident. "I think we need people to make decisions,” she said. “I think it would make me nervous the whole time.” Ready or not, they're here. Waymo – a driverless taxi – is already rolling through Miami and Orlando. In the Fort Myers area, people are noticing specialized GM vehicles on the roads. "You might see them often, because they're driving on the highways every day,” Ryan Falor said. Falor is the Director of AV Data at General Motors. Right now, the company has test drivers in specialized vehicles on major roadways in Fort Myers, like I-75 and State Road 82, among others. The vehicles are decked out with cameras, radar, and lidar, and are collecting data for the future of GM's autonomous vehicles. While Waymo is a taxi service, GM is working on cars people can eventually own. “We're focusing on enabling people to get time back as part of their driving experience,” Falor said. “And to get value from their car that they otherwise wouldn't have gotten." GM already has what’s called Super Cruise, which can control speed, the wheel and even change lanes on certain roads. What they're working toward now is an 'eyes-off' driving system. "Where really, you can start to take your eyes off the road,” Falor said. “Not only will the car drive and control the wheel and control the speed for you, but it's also going to be handling those unexpected situations." The plan, Falor said, is to launch the vehicles in 2028. It’ll happen first on highways in major metro areas but eventually cover more ground. They'll start with the Cadillac Escalade IQ and then add other vehicles people can buy. "You can be safe and know that if you're handing snacks to your kid in the backseat and you're not looking at the road ahead of you, the car's going to handle that situation for you,” Falor said. Waymo's rollout hasn't been without speed bumps. This year the company recalled thousands of robotaxis after some drove into flooded streets and others into freeway construction zones. Plus, people in Atlanta filmed dozens of Waymos circling their cul-de-sac, clogging up the neighborhood. “I don't want to be in the back of a Waymo that now can't get to its location because a dozen other Waymos have decided that they don't know where they're going,” Kentwood said. GM knows that proving to people the technology works in their own backyard is critical. Some people still need to be convinced to put driving in the hands of computers. “In a lot of situations, (computers) already are better drivers, right? I think the goal is to show that they can be a better driver in almost all situations,” Falor said. Falor added that GM takes several steps to keep the data that it collects private. DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment, and original programming on your TV.