Right. This is a prototype. You've got a whole empty seat not being used, and a steering wheel sat there baiting someone to play with it. The vehicle was never designed for the purpose for which it is being used.

I totally agree we will start to see very specific driverless designs that are very easy to clean.

Either that, or Johnny Cabs. I'm easy.

The nhtsa used to require all vehicles have steering wheels. Looks like that rule changed in March 2022 for autonomous vehicles so we should so start seeing those. I guess it just takes a while for new autonomous vehicles to be designed and built to take advantage of the change in rules.