This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gary Moss, 62, a resident of Puyallup, Washington, and his son, David, a Tesla owner. Moss, who is blind, attended Tesla’s Cybercab launch event with his son in Austin. Tesla made the Cybercab available to the Austin public following the event. The two hailed several rides in the Cybercab. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Gary Moss: Before I lost my vision, driving gave me the freedom to go where I needed, when I needed.
I used to drive 30,000 to 40,000 miles a year for my business. There was nothing more exciting to me than going to a place that I’d never been before on the open freeway. I found that to be as relaxing as a 10-mile run. It was almost the same euphoria.
Almost five years ago, around the end of October, I lost sight in one eye. Within a three to four-month period, my second eye went bad. I have cancer that’s treatable but not curable.
David Moss: They realized he had a softball-sized tumor in his brain.
Gary: I’m now pretty good with a cane. I can get around my house without a second thought, and I’ll do a lot of walking around the cul-de-sac. But there are a lot of places I can’t go.
If I’m sitting in the middle of the day and I want to go to my favorite coffee shop, I used to have the freedom to do so. Now, I have to plan trips and bum favors. People are very nice to take me places, but I still have to ask them, and they have to be willing and have the time and ability to take me where I want to go.
David: I mostly help with driving him around or running errands. I’m also his personal stylist and shopper, too.
We used to go to a lot more sporting events and big things in heavy-traffic areas with lots of people around. We don’t do that nearly as much anymore.
The Cybercab feels like a ‘living room’
Gary: The first thing I noticed about the Cybercab was how easy it was to get in. I appreciate the doors opening automatically. It was like having the chauffeur open the door and say, “Oh, Mr. Moss, glad to see you.”
Tesla’s regular flush handles can be a little difficult for me. You have to hit them with a thumb and grab them at the same time. With the Cybercab, they open up, you step in, and you step out. I’ll put my hand on the door so I don’t run into the edge.
David: If you walk toward the doors in a way that they’ll be in your path, the doors will only open part of the way.
Gary: Tesla also had a little phrase: “We want you to feel like you’re in your living room.” That really worked especially for me because I’m not distracted by things going by. I’m sitting there in a very comfortable seat listening to good music and chatting with my son.
At the end of my time in my second living room, all of a sudden, I show up where I want to be.
Other people’s driving scares me, but these cars don’t.
David: He’s taken six Cybercab rides by now.
Gary: When I’m with people who are gracious enough to drive me someplace, I try not to criticize too much. Countless things grab my attention, like making last-minute decisions to change course or hitting the brakes. That virtually never happens when I’m in a Tesla.
‘It’s not all the way there’
David: On a busy street with five or six Cybercabs on the block, there weren’t any audible cues that could help my dad know which one was ours. That’s one of the things that would need to improve.
Gary: When you’re in a spot with several Cybercabs, there needs to be a way to make it easy for me to know which one I’m walking up to.
David: We appreciated that we could ask Grok, the AI voice assistant, a few things: where we were, how many miles we had left, and the time. But my dad wouldn’t be able to change or set the destination.
There was more voice-activation stuff than we anticipated, but it’s not all the way there for someone like my dad.
Gary: One of the problems with ride-hailing apps is that they require the ability to use the phone, and I can only use my phone with voice activation.
If I could just say, “Hey Siri or Grok, I need a cab to take me to the grocery store or take me someplace to eat,” and in a couple of minutes one showed up, and all I have to do is touch a button and I’m gone — I can’t believe the options that I’d have. Sometimes I’d like to go someplace and get something to eat, and nobody wants to take me there.
And instead of a brief tone, announcing that we’re here, maybe it would also help if the Cybercab gave me a brief summary of where we’re parked and, using the cameras, what it’s going to take to walk the, say, hundred feet between where we’re parked and the door of the building I’m going into.
David: A lot of these things would be irrelevant if there were personal ownership of a Cybercab, if my dad only had to walk out to the driveway, and he could use Grok to control the car.
Gary: I’d buy a Cybercab. I’d feel pretty lucky. The experience is so close to being everything I need right now.
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