On a sweltering July day in Chicago, Zelu waits outside her parents' house for a newly launched autonomous vehicle, the city's first day of free self-driving cab service. Her mother frets, urging her to stay home or wait until the bugs are worked out, but Zelu insists, framing the ride as research for her novel and an exercise in independence.

The driverless SUV arrives, and Zelu boards using its accessible platform, securing her wheelchair inside. She marvels at the technology while her mother nervously says goodbye. As the vehicle pulls away, Zelu feels an eerie sense of being driven by a ghost, jokingly comparing it to a 'NoBody' from her novel.

Once on the road, Zelu's confidence falters. She panics through the first turn, white-knuckles a sudden stop when a plastic bag blows into the street, and resists calling family or Msizi for fear of judgment. She reflects that asking relatives for rides always makes her feel pitied and infantilized, and that this technology could finally free her from that dependence.

Arriving at Navy Pier shaken but alive, Zelu watches the SUV drive off and instinctively waves goodbye. Her relief swells into euphoria as she realizes the autonomous vehicle gives her unprecedented mobility and autonomy. She wheels onto the boardwalk feeling, in her own words, 'just like a robot.'