Here at The Drive, we don’t tend to keep tabs on Grand Theft Auto Online’s every update. But the latest one, which went live on Wednesday, got our attention because it adds a new form of traffic to Los Santos: Autonomous taxis. Operated by a company called “KnoWay,” they take the form of self-driving Karin Vivanite vans—basically the GTA universe’s Toyota Sienna. And, in typical GTA fashion, your mission is to take control of them and wreak havoc on the city’s property and inhabitants.
We didn’t really know precisely how KnoWay taxis would manifest in the game. Some predicted they’d drive erratically and flout traffic patterns, but I followed one for a couple of minutes, and that never happened. If you get in its path, it’ll try to steer out of your way and continue about its business, but it won’t speed away as a civilian-driven vehicle might. Also, as far as I could tell, you can’t get inside them.
This was admittedly a little disappointing. So I figured I may as well do the first mission tied to KnoWay, which is initiated by picking up a payphone. Our criminal collaborator Avi tells us that KnoWay may as well be an arm of the FIB (GTA’s FBI) because of all the surveillance they conduct, but nobody bothers to surveil payphones anymore, so they’re actually safe.
The mission begins with driving to KnoWay’s depot, where you’re first tasked with taking out all the guards in the building. Fortunately, that isn’t very hard if you’re alone and playing on easy, like I was. Once you do that, you get behind the wheel of one of KnoWay’s test pods, which allows you to remotely drive one of the company’s taxis. And that’s where the real fun begins.
The mission here is to engage in behavior that would tank the company’s stock price, so you’re given objectives of toppling 10 traffic signals, knocking over five pedestrians, and jumping 30 feet in the air. After you’ve done that, it’s time to destroy every KnoWay billboard you see and disable a few of the company’s other vehicles by ramming into them on the street. And when that fun is over, naturally, you must destroy yourself. To do this, I drove into the ocean, which felt weird.
Avi’s in your ear the whole time, cheering you on. After I submerged the van I’d been controlling, I had to blow up every vehicle in the depot before leaving the site and escaping the cops, which, of course, is always the most annoying aspect of these missions. Then I headed to Avi’s car to pick up some cash in the trunk.
That’s the first mission done and dusted, and, in perfect GTA Online fashion, the minute I booted back to the open world, my character instantly exploded and died, as did every other player in my session. They really have to do something about these modders, but it’s been 12 years now, so maybe that’s more of a GTA VI thing.
Wreaking havoc with a “driverless” taxi was kind of amusing, but I wish Rockstar had baked some odd behavior into the KnoWay vehicles on the street. Maybe it could’ve let players break into them, only to be given a wanted level that can’t be reduced until exiting the vehicle, because the authorities know where KnoWay’s whole fleet is at all times. Perhaps there are some other touches that differentiate these vans more from normal traffic, but after my admittedly limited playtime, I haven’t found them yet.
Have you played the latest GTA Online update yet? Have thoughts? Hit me up at adam.ismail@thedrive.com