About
Hi, I’m Jon Gould, your local chauffeur, and owner of Santa Cruise, aka Santa Cruz Driver!
Why become a private driver?
Years ago I tried rideshare during the winter just to get out of the house, as it turned out it was fun and I was pretty good at it! I genuinely like people and love driving.
After moving to Santa Cruz I was overwhelmed with how many people complained about the sorry state of rideshare drivers in the area. From no-shows, smelly cars, to driving Hwy 17 for the first time, yikes! So I decided to throw my hat into the ring and start the first Human+ chauffeur service to solve this Bay area issue.
A year & 1,000+ rides later and Santa Cruz Driver was born. It’d be my honor to drive you!
It took a bit to get to 1,000 rides, and I am proud to say every single one was 5 stars!
Tell me about yourself.
Born in central Florida, but fell in love with the mountains early. Business major turned college dropout. I started & joined a few startups with friends over the next 2 decades. Lucky enough to RV around the country where I saw all there was to see, which led my partner & me to discover Santa Cruz. I fell in love with the Redwood mountains and she loves to surf, plus we’re both student pilots so we have access to many airports nearby. So we moved out here and have loved it ever since!
What is a “Human+” chauffeur service?
First and foremost, it’s the same thing you imagine when you envisage a chauffeur. Being so close to Silicon Valley the personalized aspects of a private car are becoming lost. I am combining the personal touch of an experienced chauffeur and the mind-blowing computational ability of A.I. for the first time in the private car industry, or as I like to call it: Human+ It’s the driver, experience, and luxury you want, modernized with the highest level of safety tech supporting the driver, and by extension, you!
This hybrid autonomy brings the best of both worlds together for the first human-monitored self-driving chauffeur service! The safety improvement is dramatic! Having a dedicated 8-camera system that is never tired, bored, or impatient, and can “think” 1 Trillion times per second watching your back is superhuman. At present it is roughly 8x safer than a 100% human driver. Clients can choose to have the car drive & be monitored, or the chauffer drive while being monitored by AI in the background.
*A note on safety data: The data is quarterly & heavily seasonally affected. This means that all driving by humans and A.I. have more accidents in the winter & less in the summer. Weather is the great equalizer. A.I.-assisted driving is still 8.5x safer in the worst weather as of the latest reporting (Q4, 2024)
Why a Tesla Model Y?
Many reasons. It looks great, drives confidently, is very comfortable, highly practical, blends in (anonymity), has a beautiful panoramic glass roof & can easily accelerate out of danger. The icing on the cake: Tesla’s advanced Full-self-driving system & software.
An unsung quality of looking like a normal private car is a client’s anonymity. This avoids the sad reality of what sometimes happens in major urban areas against autonomous vehicles.
Credentials:
Licensed, insured & vetted per the state of California, CPUC requirements. Includes randomized drug testing & continuous background checks for your safety.
As a professional driver, we are held to a zero-tolerance policy. Zero drugs, zero alcohol, always!
Report Driver or file complaint with CA CPUC:
CPUC phone: 1-800-894-9444
CPUC email: [email protected]
TCP 47075-P (Visible on front & back bumpers)
Verify Santa Cruise’s TCP # with the CPUC -> (Here)
Car: Tesla Model Y, Dual Motor, Long Range + FSD
Rated 5-star in every crash category + all safety equipment is standard. Model Y received the highest safety score ever recorded in the Euro NCAP (2022)
Software: Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v12.6.1
AutoPilot hardware: AI3/HW3
*While the car can drive itself 99% of the time, it’s always under human control, so no dangerous “sitting-duck-Waymo” scenarios as seen in the news. Your safety is my #1 priority!
Tires:
Pirelli P-Zero UHP All Seasons – 275/35/20XL @44PSI
*While pedantic, great tires are the only thing between you and sliding off the road. This is why I over-spec my tire width. This provides a greater contact patch with the road for better handling & braking ability in the worst weather on any mountain road.
