Not Everyone is Thrilled That Self-Driving Taxi Cabs are Coming to ‘Cruise’ the Streets of Nashville, TN

Yes! These things really exist and they're coming soon to a city near you. Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt recently announced that his company's 'driverless taxis' are coming to Nashville.

Now, I'll admit it. I didn't even know these were a thing until I saw a Facebook post from Nashville Current a couple of days ago. They posted a couple of photos of Cruise taxis and asked, "Who is ready for this?"

Because I hadn't seen or heard of Cruise before, I immediately searched YouTube. I had a hunch they would have some demo videos and, lo and behold, they delivered.

Take a look!

Fascinating, right? Well, this may surprise you too. Cruise is already operational in other major cities here in the U.S. The company's cars/services can be found in Phoenix, Austin and San Francisco. Fun, pseudo-related fact. San Francisco seems to a virtual launchpad for all sorts of rideshare options. Both Uber and Lyft were born there. Uber started in 2009. Lyft followed in 2012. Cruise had its introduction in San Francisco last year.

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And, within the last year, Cruise has expanded from one city to seven and Nashville's the latest. According to the company, tests in Music City are already underway- so it's entirely possible you'll see these cars on the streets if you head down for a visit.

Not everyone is thrilled about the news and various residents shared their thoughts on the Nashville Current FB page.

Becky Deaton Crabtree: Traffic is bad enough, without throwing this in the mix!

James Collier: Nope. Dumb idea. We already have a difficult time avoiding the scooters and drunk people walking out in front of us. Definitely not going to work.

Joe Hooper: What's next? Self driving party busses and Pedal Taverns? We don't need anymore gimmick touristy crap here! STAY AWAY!

Julie Tracy: There are too many things that is going to make this impossible for these taxis to run correctly.

Cruise confirms that the first step in functionality is "to learn the city roads and driving behaviors."

While most people are skeptical about the launch, I am going to hold out some hope. Last Saturday, I went to see Sam Smith at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. It took me exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes to get my car out of the garage we parked it in. I would much rather have summoned a Cruise taxi to pick me up curbside.