Opinion

Subaru, we love you but you're missing a few things.Where is your ute? Your retro-revived Brumby? And while we’re at it there are so many other models you should be making and selling in Australia. Here’s our shopping list of what Subaru needs to doOK, well it does look like the Brumby might happen, with CarsGuide reporting recently that Subaru and Toyota were teaming up to produce a small electric ute. And that’s exciting even if it’s only taken 31 years to bring the Brumby back. We’re not saying Subaru doesn't have any good cars in Australia - it absolutely does. The family favourite Forester is probably the best off-the beaten track capable mid sized SUV and the WRX is a superb rally car for the road, but there are more than a few missing models from Subaru’s line-up.The most obvious is a seven seater SUV, which would be able to compete with Mitsubishi's Outlander, Kia’s Sorento and Hyundai’s Santa Fe. Imagine a Forester XL — a three row, seven-seat SUV that’s about 200mm longer than the standard Forester at 4840mm length. It’d have Subaru’s symmetrical SUV and 215mm of ground clearance and be one of the most adept light-off roaders on sale. Price it from $50,990 to $73,000. It’d sell like cakes that are hot.You actually don't have to imagine a Forester XL, because it really exists in the United States and it's called the Ascent. It's  a three-row seven- or eight-seat SUV that's basically a big Forester.What about a Toyota LandCruiser or Nissan Patrol rival? Could Subaru build one of these? Not on its own, but it is very buddy-buddy with Toyota. In the same way Subaru’s BRZ sports car and Solterra electric SUV were both born out of joint ventures with Toyota, a LandCruiser Prado or 300 Series version could be entirely possible.Oh, and while we’re at it, a HiLux-based ute would also see Subaru go head-to-head with Ford’s Ranger, Nissan’s Navara and Isuzu D-Max.I’d like to think Subaru could come up with amazing names for these two new vehicles but history says coming up with a names isn’t really the brand’s strength. So the ute would likely be something like the Subaru Muster and the big hardcore off-road SUV would be the Subaru Longitude. Terrible names, great cars. And finally, a people-mover and you can thank the Kia Carnival for changing everybody’s mind about these vans being uncool and making them kind of desirable again. Subaru actually sold a seven-seater people-mover called the Exiga in 2012. It was based on the Liberty wagon, but it was discontinued in 2015 from Australia.Despite people mover sales only representing about one per cent of the total market share Kia still managed to sell 10,080 Carnivals in 2024 — that's a quarter of Subaru's total sales for the same year. Will any of these imaginary Subarus actually happen? Probably not. Well the Brumby small ute is likely. Subaru plans to make more joint venture EVs with Toyota, which also makes sense. Still a Forester XL would be nice.

One of the most common questions I get asked as a motoring journalist is ‘what’s the worst car you’ve driven?’  To be honest, it’s not a hard question to answer because I was one of the unfortunate few to have driven the original Chery J1 hatchback.

Chinese cars aren’t just about being the budget option anymore, and their ability to act fast, take risks and disregard the status quo is an existential threat to some of the world’s biggest manufacturers in Australia.I’ve increasingly had these thoughts as I’ve been driving ambitious new Chinese cars week-to-week against new offerings from their more established European, Japanese, and Korean rivals.It’s not as though these new offerings aren’t riddled with issues, some of them mundane and others extremely frustrating as you can read about in our recent reviews of cars like the Leapmotor C10, Geely EX-5, and Jaecoo J8. But outside the pricing and sheer speed to market, it’s the complete lack of fear to try something new which is making them stand out even in the most congested market segments.My favourite recent examples include Zeekr’s wild 009 performance people mover and the smaller but absurdly modular Mix, as well as the 7X electric mid-size SUV.There’s XPeng’s range of cars, from the surprisingly tidy G6, which has already arrived in Australia, alongside the soon-to-arrive G9 large SUV and Mona M03 sedan.Most recently there’s the wild GWM Tank 700, a $100k-plus twin-turbo V6 plug-in hybrid off-road monster clearly designed to rival some of the biggest names in the industry like G-Wagen, Defender and LandCruiser.That’s not to mention BYD’s mould-breaking Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute, which has single-handedly upended the predominantly diesel segment and suddenly made heroes of the post-Falcon and Commodore era like the HiLux and D-Max look relatively antiquated.These new Chinese options have a lot in common. They have ambitious futuristic designs, feature-laden cabins with clever software features (albeit not all of them good) and a complete disregard for established industry norms.Performance people mover? Any other manufacturer would say a resounding ‘no’ to that, but Zeekr and XPeng both reckon they can simply create the hype for one out of thin air.Even just the concept of people movers in general. Toyota’s local division constantly dismisses the idea of bringing its luxurious Alphard to our market, despite the fact that it consistently ranks as Australia’s most popular grey import and sold in numbers orders of magnitude greater than the now-discontinued and diesel-only Granvia, which the brand offered as an also-ran alternative thanks to its parts commonality with the HiAce.Yet soon Australia will be again flooded with people mover offerings from the likes of BYD’s Denza brand as well as Xpeng and Zeekr, an existential threat to the Kia Carnival, which has remained largely unchallenged for the last few years.Even the entire concept of a Chinese semi-luxury brand like Jaecoo or Zeekr would have been scoffed at a handful of years ago, yet here they are, and not with one or two models, but fully-fledged line-ups.You can go even more granular than that. Recently I had a new Suzuki Swift ‘hybrid’ as a long-termer. It’s a sweet little car and technically ticks a lot of boxes for the intended buyer. The issue? It goes into battle against the new MG3.There’s a few problems with this. Firstly, the Suzuki feels like a facelift of the previous car, rather than a new-generation as claimed, and secondly, it’s not a ‘real hybrid’ in the sense that there’s no electric motor large enough to independently drive the wheels.In comparison, the MG launches with a clean-sheet, screen-centric interior (for better or worse), and an interesting dedicated hybrid transmission system with plenty of electric driving potential. Again, the MG is far from perfect, but it’s the relative ambition on show which could make or break a sale.Another example I drove recently was the Audi Q6 e-tron. It’s a great luxury mid-size electric SUV. The problem is, Volkswagen Group made a big song and dance about its brand-new PPE platform as though it was going to revolutionize the space, and the problem is the end product is just good when it needs to be stellar.In comparison, the Zeekr 7X I drove at the end of 2024 in China completely outgunned my expectations. It’s a similar offering; a ground-up new mid-size luxury electric SUV, but it brings a surprisingly plush interior (in some aspects, nicer than the Audi), with very clever software features, a coherent and innovative design and solid motor and battery specs.Zeekr was so confident we’d be impressed by it, they brought a current BMW X5 for us to test it against, and, to put it simply, the 7X felt much more a product of today. Plus it looks set to cost closer to $75k than the $100k of the base Q6.Now I'll stop at this point to add the caveat that just because these new offerings are ambitious - whether it's their design, price, market segment, or features - they're not always objectively better vehicles.The point is: at both ends of the price spectrum now, Chinese brands are putting the pressure on and tempting buyers away at a time where traditional brands can't afford to lose their audience.You don’t even need to take my word for it. It’s clear as day in the latest VFACTs figures for new car registrations in Australia.At the low end of the market, the squeeze is undeniable. The once-dominating Suzuki is down 19.8 per cent this year as it faces particular pressure from both MG and Chery, and cult hero SsangYong from Korea is taking a big hit as GWM and JAC muscle in on the territory of its humble Musso ute, the brand’s sales also dropping 27.6 per cent year-on-year.Even Mitsubishi is struggling to keep up, its affordable ASX now discontinued and new competition particularly fierce in the same segments as its core Triton ute and Outlander mid-sizer.BYD’s surge to the front of the EV charts has the once-dominant Tesla on the ropes for the first time, and it’s clear that some niche parts of the market are struggling to deal with the new car landscape, with Volvo down 21 per cent year-on-year and Jeep down 20.8 per cent.Granted it’s hard to attribute new Chinese players purely to these issues, with some ageing product no doubt to blame, but it’s worth pondering whether the lost volume will ever be recovered with so much competition tempting buyers away.Some traditional players are fairing better than others. Toyota is stable thanks to a steady stream of refreshed versions of its popular range of hybrids (although a question mark hangs above its ageing HiLux), while Kia and Hyundai take a different path, leaning into offering a diverse range of hybrids and electric cars with their own ambitious design allure.None of this will last. Despite a new range of ambitious products, even the once trailblazing MG is feeling a bit of heat, down 12.7 per cent this year as it tries to outgrow its cheap and cheerful phase, the mantle of which has been taken up by Chery.No doubt the same fate could await its contemporaries, as even more Chinese brands have designs on the Australian market - widely seen as a microcosm of other markets like the US and Europe - a perfect testbed for global expansion plans.Eventually the dust will settle, but how many automakers - new or old - will survive an increasingly intense race to 2030 seems impossible to tell.

The Dacia Duster is a sharply-priced, mid-size, five-seat SUV sold by Renault’s Romanian subsidiary in multiple markets across Europe. 

Whoever said ‘you can never have too much choice’ clearly never saw the Australian new car market in 2025. The country is being inundated with not only new models, but seemingly new brands every month.In 2025 alone we’ve had the introduction of Cadillac, Deepal, Geely, GMC, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, Omoda and Xpeng to our roads. These join other relatively new arrivals which include (but aren’t limited to) BYD, Chery, Chevrolet, Cupra, JAC and Zeekr, with more reportedly on the way.While competition is great, and certainly there are many very likeable cars from most of these brands, I’m starting to feel like we’ve reached breaking point in Australia. We buy just over one million new cars each year, and that number won’t rise sharply anytime soon, so each new brand only splits the market into even smaller pieces.When you factor in Toyota accounts for around 20 per cent of the market each year, and that too doesn’t look like changing anytime soon, then you have nearly 70 brands fighting over 80 per cent of what’s left. While there’s certainly some major positives to this booming industry, namely the increased competition, especially the brands from China, have slowed down the dramatic price rises we’ve seen post-pandemic. The market was already headed that way before 2020, with many brands working out it makes better financial sense to sell fewer cars but at a higher profit than it does to sell lots of cars for less margin. Without question, a major factor in the growth of Chinese cars in Australia is thanks to the highly competitive pricing strategy brands like MG, GWM, BYD and others have engaged in.These new brands do give choice, but the downside of so much choice is it makes it harder for you, the new car customer, to know what to buy. Obviously we do our best here at CarsGuide to keep you informed, but frankly there are so many new brands - both those with history and reputation and those without - that buying is simply getting more and more complicated.One of the biggest challenges with new brands, as in brands with no history in developed car markets, is that a new model that seems solid and good value now may age terribly and give you no-end of problems. Or, alternatively, it could be great and problem-free - but it’s an expensive gamble to find out.But the cold, hard fact remains, the new car market is only so big and unless all brands not named Toyota prepare for a smaller market share, then not all will survive in all likelihood. In recent years Holden has gone, so too has Chrysler and Citroen, and there are seemingly several more hanging on with shrinking sales numbers. That will almost certainly leave customers facing an uncertain future for parts, servicing, etc, not to mention it will likely tank resale value. So, yes, choice is great, but too much choice can ultimately make life harder for everyone involved. Because at what point do we stop - 80 brands? 100? It may sound silly but at the rate some of these newer brands are multiplying with spin-offs and sister-brands, there appears to be no end in sight - and that’s not necessarily good news…

Driver alert systems have gone too far and my opinion is that these systems, which are designed to help us focus on the road and keep us safer, actually do the opposite.

The GMC Yukon Denali is the latest arrival in a continuing US vehicular invasion of Australia. Imported here as left-hand drive and then converted to a right-hander, the Denali is a big 4WD wagon with eight seats, a petrol V8 engine and a standard features list as long as LeBron James’s arm.Brought to our shores by General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV), the Denali is a premium-style vehicle; massive, comfortable and, as an eight-seat 4WD wagon, it has few rivals in the Aussie market. But it lacks a competitive warranty, its price-tag puts it way out of reach of a lot of 4WD buyers, and for a few distinct reasons it is a sterling example why US wagons and utes don’t belong in Australia.It’s too big.It’s big. Even the signature Denali grille – with LED headlights and chrome accents – is the size of a tiny house. The 2025 Denali is 5337mm long (with a 3071mm wheelbase), 2378mm wide, 1943mm high, and it has a kerb weight of 2813kg.The interior is great because it is big, roomy and occupant friendly, but the Denali’s gargantuan exterior dimensions simply mean it’s a beast of burden in busy city or suburban streets, and even on bush tracks, which can be quite narrow.The Denali demands to be driven with supreme consideration – and even more patience, more skill, and more experience than smaller four-wheel drives require – in order to avoid city- or bush-related damage, incidental or otherwise.Also, worth remembering is that fact that no matter how good a driver you are, there’s always a shopping trolley, key-wielding person who hates big vehicles, or someone who only parks their car by ‘touching’ the vehicle nearest to them out there, waiting to ding/scratch/dent your US behemoth. You’ve been warned.It’s not built for Australian conditions.The Denali is imported to Australia as a left-hand drive vehicle and then Walkinshaw's subsidiary company Premoso remanufactures the US 4WD wagons to right-hand drive at their facility in Clayton, Victoria. But the problems aren’t with Premoso’s work – they’ve done an impressive job – the flaws are in the vehicle’s original design and build.For one, as mentioned, it’s big. If you aren't used to steering a tank-sized 4WD around town then driving the Denali is going to be a very steep – and possibly very expensive – learning curve.Two, it’s built for open-road cruising on US freeways; it’s not engineered to cope with our punishing dirt-road corrugations of Australia, or our extreme heat, or our poorly maintained backroads and bush tracks.Thirdly, the Denali lacks the prestige fit and finish and build quality usually showcased in something at this price-point. Instead, there is hard plastic throughout, storage receptacles with flimsy lids, and lacklustre fit and finish.Also, this Denali is on 24-inch rims and paper-thin Bridgestone all-season tyres (285/40R24), which is not a wheel-and-tyre package suited to anything other than driving on the blacktop. These tyres don’t offer the grip of a decent all-terrain tyre and you can’t drop air pressures because there isn’t enough tyre there.The Denali has a naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine – producing 313kW and 624Nm – and that’s matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission.This is a great vehicle to drive on-road for general day-to-day driving duties – settled and composed – and it’s close to flawless on the open road, smooth and refined, but that big V8 – as great as it sounds – has the potential to drink … a lot.The Denali’s air suspension – which aims to level out even major imperfections in the road or track surface – and its special dampers aren’t as effective or as seamless a system as the Patrol/Patrol Warrior’s Hydraulic Body Motion Control, which acts as a sway bar and sway bar disconnect equivalent and is very impressive. Official fuel consumption is listed as 12.8L/100km (on a combined cycle), but on my most recent test of it, I recorded 16.2L/100km. Not too bad, all things considered, but you have to remember that I didn’t have much weight onboard and I wasn’t towing anything.The Denali has a 91L fuel tank so, going by my on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 560km from a full tank. Once loaded up with real-world burdens (e.g kids, dogs, camping gear etc) then you’ll soon see the Denali’s fuel use climb.It’s expensive.The Denali has a price tag of $174,990 (excluding on-road costs), making it a lot more expensive than most vehicles that could be considered rivals in the Aussie market.Until now, if you’d been looking for an eight-seat 4WD wagon with a petrol V8 engine, you'd be limited to considering something like a Nissan Patrol or a Land Rover Defender 130, but at least the Patrol is almost half the price of a Denali.Another thing, as mentioned earlier, the Denali does not have the high quality of fit and finish and build quality usually associated with vehicles that cost this much – that’s disappointing.And maximum braked towing capacity in the Denali is listed as 3628kg (when it has a 70mm ball and weight-distribution hitch) – which isn’t that much more than other large 4WD wagons or utes in Australia offer (3500kg maximum braked towing capacity).US utes and wagons are big, bloated, overpriced and underdone – and they should go back from whence they came.Cue the hate mail...

Six months ago the heavens were falling as a wave of new Chinese brands approached our shores, with some predicting mass casualties of legacy carmakers.Most of these new brands have arrived, including Deepal, Geely, Jac, XPeng and Zeekr, but have they wreaked the havoc that was predicted?The answer is no. After several months on sale the initial take up has been modest at best.Geely has sold about 500 of its cut-price EX5 electric mid-size SUV, which is a good start but not a knock-out blow to anyone.Jac has had trouble getting its T9 ute on the ground in Australia, but its 650 sales this year aren’t worrying Ford or Toyota.Deepal and XPeng don’t report sales figures yet, but anecdotal evidence suggests they haven’t hit critical mass.Zeekr has moved around 270 examples of its X small electric SUV and luxurious 009 people mover combined.It turns out that just because you are new and from China doesn’t mean you have a cheat code to success in Australia, as some may have thought.As with every other new brand, it will take time and resources to build up a strong following.Take a look at BYD, Chery, GWM and MG. These brands have had to grind it out over years to get a toehold in the local market.GWM and MG have since turned that toehold into a sizeable chunk of market share, like a wily pub veteran pushing elbows out at the bar to settle in, with both now established top 10 selling brands Down Under.It was a similar story for many of these brands that are now awash with sales.Chery launched with its Omoda 5 small SUV and said it would sell 10,000 in the first year … it did not come close.Fast forward a few years and Chery’s beefed-up line-up has accounted for more than 8000 sales through the first four months of this year and is on target to sell more than 20,000 vehicles in 2025. The cut-price Tiggo 4 small SUV leads the charge.BYD has sold more than 11,000 cars through to the start of May this year, but when it first arrived its Atto 3 sold just OK. Its sales really turbocharged years later after it brought in its line-up of plug-in hybrids such as the Sealion 6 SUV, Shark 6 dual-cab ute and the mid-size Sealion 7 electric SUV.Sales of the Sealion 6 and Shark 6 may fall back to earth now that tax incentives for plug-in hybrids have ended.In April, the BYD Sealion 7 electric SUV displaced the Tesla Model Y as the bestselling EV that month, which is only the second time since August 2022 a Tesla hasn’t been the bestselling electric car in a month.The MG ZS and GWM Haval Jolion are the second- and third-bestselling small SUVs, eclipsing rivals such as the Toyota Corolla Cross, Kia Seltos and Mitsubishi ASX.A few more car brands are on the cusp of launching with GAC and Skywell committed to landing here, but as recent history has shown, it’ll be a tough slog to carve out a slice of the Aussie market.But what about the effect on other brands?The only new car brand gone from the local market recently is Citroën, which was on a steep decline long before we knew any of these newcomers existed. Stellantis and its herd of car brands, such as Jeep and Alfa Romeo, look a little unsteady on their feet here, but this is not the result of new Chinese brands.The big boys of the Australian car industry are still doing well.Toyota’s market share has grown this year, compared to the first four months of 2024, as has Mazda, Hyundai and Kia’s. Ford’s is effectively even, too.So your favourite car brand might be around for longer than was predicted not so long ago.

In September 2022, Ford CEO told me directly that the Bronco would be coming to Australia. We, as a nation, have waited patiently, but the time is right for the brand’s most adventurous SUV to join the local line-up, complimenting the Ranger and Everest it’s so closely related to.And this isn’t just the pipe dream of one motoring journalist, there are several key events that appear to be lining up in favour of the Bronco making its way to Australia within the next few years. But first, a quick history lesson. I was fortunate enough to catch Farley directly at the reveal of the new-generation Mustang in Detroit and ask him directly about the chances of the Bronco and its Bronco Sport small SUV namesake making Australian showrooms. This is what he said.“We can do Bronco and Bronco Sport for the globe for sure,” Farley told me. “But we have, like, a year or two order bank so we have a lot of work to do on our capacity before we can even consider something like that.”He added: “Of course it can be engineered , just like Mustang, but you have to invest in the capacity and it’s like the first or second inning of building up the Bronco line-up. It’s a whole family, we’ve just come out with the Heritage, we’ve got Everglades, there’s going to be a lot of iterations so just give us some time.”That was nearly three years ago and in that time much of what he said has come to pass, unsurprisingly. Ford has continued to roll out special editions of the Bronco in the US market, the latest being the Stroppe and Free Wheeling versions. This has helped keep interest high in the US and therefore, as Farley referenced, it has meant international expansion is a lower priority.As we’ve previously reported, Ford opened a second Bronco production line in China last year, a joint-venture with Jangling Motors, which leaves the Michigan, USA plant free to focus on feeding the hungry American market. While Ford Australia has made no official comment on the Chinese factory being able to supply Bronco here, it does clear some notable hurdles. The biggest one is the cost of both production and shipping, with China being significantly cheaper than America in both aspects.There’s also the on-going trade war between China and the USA, which effectively rules out any chance the Chinese factory could supply Broncos back to America. This, theoretically, leaves the door open for Australia and its SUV-loving market to take pole position for a future Chinese-built, right-hand drive Bronco.Given the Bronco has been on sale in the US for more than five years, having been revealed in 2020, it is approaching a likely mid-life update. This would be the ideal opportunity for Ford to make good on Farley’s promise and introduce the Bronco to Australia.Given the success of the Ranger and Everest, which share the same underpinnings as the Bronco, it would likely be a welcome addition to Australian customers. Ford officials have previously indicated that the modest sales of the Jeep Wrangler (the closest direct rival to the Bronco) have been a cause of concern, but given the relative success of Ford’s Ranger ute to Jeep’s Gladiator, that is a spurious comparison.Should the Chinese plan get the green light, it’s likely the Bronco could be in Australian showrooms by 2027, given the time needed to finish development of the right-hand drive version and Ford Australia’s focus on launching the Ranger Super Duty in 2026.And while there’s no official comment from Ford to back any of this up, Farley’s commitment as the big boss says all signs point to the Bronco hitting Australian roads and trials eventually.

I put my life in the hands of a computer, trusting it to drive me at speed, in traffic on the mean streets of Los Angeles.Spoiler alert: I survived.There’s been a lot of talk about self-driving cars for more than a decade. Elon Musk has been publicly promising ‘full self-driving’ since at least 2015 but it’s yet to become a reality for Tesla. However, there is one company that isn’t just talking about it, it has more than 1000 driverless cars already on the road and chauffeuring the general public around in heavy traffic.That company is Waymo, which began life as the Google self-driving cars project but evolved to become its own entity, but still part of Alphabet Inc. that owns the search engine. The change of name came in 2016 and was a significant milestone for the project as it represented the shift from research and development to being a commercial business.The company also spent from 2009 (when Google first began the project) until 2020 developing the technology before it allowed members of the public to ride inside the cars and went fully commercial. The initial test period was in Phoenix, Arizona, but since then Waymo has expanded to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin.Fast forward to last week and a trip to Los Angeles as the Waymo One, which is a Jaguar I-Pace retrofitted with an array of technology, are a common sight on the streets. The white cars with the awkward looking add-ons drive around a specific region of the city, broadly speaking between Santa Monica and Hollywood, and navigate through regular traffic.Having been a long-time self-driving car skeptic, my initial reaction to seeing these cars was shock and concern. But as more and more of them appeared and seemingly negotiated LA traffic with confidence I became intrigued and in the name of journalism I decided to risk my life and go for a ride.Waymo operates as a robotaxi, so you book a ride just like you would an Uber, Didi or any app-based ride company. Simply download the app to your phone, add your credit card details and order a car — without a driver — to come and pick you up. Speaking of credit cards, interestingly, despite the expense Waymo has gone through developing this technology, I noticed that it was a much cheaper service than its rivals with a human driver. My approximately 10 minute ride cost just over US$11, while the equivalent Uber was closer to US$20.This does raise the human cost of driverless cars. There are tens of thousands of Australians currently earning a living either driving a taxi or working for a ride-sharing company. Replacing them with computers may be safer and cheaper, but it raises moral and ethical questions that we need to ask about how our society will be shaped by technology, in particular automation. But that’s a much longer story…Getting back to my first-hand experience with the Waymo One, what puts my mind at ease is just how much technology the company has added to the car. The sleek lines of the Jaguar are ruined by Waymo’s volume of cameras, sensors and other technology that is clearly needed to make this concept safe. In particular, Waymo has added both radar (radio detection and ranging) and lidar (light detection and ranging) rather than relying solely on cameras and sensors like Tesla prefers.There are a few small differences between Waymo and the other ride-sharing app, namely that you need to give it permission to connect to your Bluetooth, because it uses that to connect your phone to the car so you can open the doors.You identify your particular Waymo from the dozens you might see in any area with your initials displayed on the roof panel. When it pulled up, my car safely found a parking spot a few metres from where I was standing, the app prompts you to open the doors and climb in. Jumping into the passenger seat and being greeted by an empty driver’s seat is an unnerving experience the first time.The infotainment system gives you a brief introduction and explanation and then the car simply pulls away and gets the journey started. It doesn’t take long for any early nerves to settle as the Waymo One drives with more smoothness and confidence than many human equivalents can manage. It can not only stop, turn and go without missing a beat, it can also give someone hopping out of their car a wide berth, carefully merge into fast-flowing traffic and negotiate tricky spots. In short, this driverless car drives like a human. It doesn’t take long for our journey to end, with the infotainment screen telling us what to expect when the Waymo One pulls over, but it’s a short trip that left a big impression on me. Certainly my skepticism around the moral and ethical questions this technology raises remain, but I now have more confidence and belief in the technology.Thankfully, we’re probably still a few years away from having to deal with these questions in Australia, but make no mistake, the future is coming and we’ll eventually have to work out who we want taking the wheel…