I drove my first all-electric car. It reminded me of my distracting smartphone.

It was eerily quiet.

I was driving a Jaguar — my first time in the driver's seat of any vehicle from the luxury British car maker — and there wasn't much to hear save for the slight swish of the car moving along the road and the wheels turning against the pavement. No roar, rev, or vroom-vroom. But there was so much going on.

I was in the I-Pace, Jaguar's first all-electric car that Waymo plans to use for its self-driving taxi service. It's not the world's first electric car, but it was the first I had taken for a spin. 

A quick jaunt around the event center made me realize several things: my next car should definitely be electric and this weirdly felt like the car version of my smartphone. Read more...