Ann Arbor's New Driverless Shuttle Is Just Like 'Total Recall'

When the news hit that the driverless shuttle experiment in Ann Arbor was set to pick up passengers, instantly, nostalgia for the 1990 movie Total Recall hit. The M-City shuttle looks just like a Johnny Cab that drove Arnold Schwarzenegger around in Total Recall.

The M-City shuttle has been in the experimental phase for a year and has recently announced the news that they are set to open to passengers.

The two driverless shuttles will run on roughly one-mile loop and have a conductor on board in case anything goes wrong.
The 11-passenger shuttles are part of a research project from M-City, a public-private partnership with U-M that develops driverless technology.

Riding a Johnny Cab

via GIPHY

In Total Recall's version of the future, driverless cars, in this case taxis, are piloted by a robotic cabbie named Johnny who will make small talk with you during the ride.

Caution, there is some NSFW language in the clip below.

So how does Ann Arbor's real life technology compare to the fiction of Total Recall? Current the shuttle is traveling a set one-mile loop so it's unlikely a passenger reaching the level of frustration Schwarzenegger reaches when Johnny Cab is unable to follow his instructions to just "drive. Anywhere!"