Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
The Verge reports that now Lyft is also claiming to soon provide a robotaxi system, in Atlanta this summer. They will be purportedly use May Mobility autonomous technology, one that has not yet been proven.
A great deal of ink has been spilled (pixels have been pushed??) on how Tesla received first of the permits needed to run a robotaxi service. Fanboys got excited! But this permit has absolutely nothing to do with robotaxis. It simply is a permit to run an app-based Uber like system with human drivers. This is of course not something that Tesla actually plans on doing. Therefore it is a complete nothing of an announcement. Thankfully TechCrunch clarifies the situation.
electrek reports on a truly wild YouTube video by Mark Roper showing that without LiDAR that the Tesla's completely miss detecting objects in the middle of the road. And please, a moment of silence for the multiple mannequins that were completely demolished by the Tesla.
electrek reports that Petter Winberg, Tesla’s Principal Engineer for CAE crashing safety for the last decade, has joined the exodus of key employees from Tesla. Kind of hard to develop new products when your key people lose faith and leave.
Gizmodo reports on how Waymo robotaxis received 589 tickets in 2024 for a total of $65,000. Unfortunately this goes no where near covering the traffic havoc that the vehicles cause.
electrek reports on statements be Waymo ex-CEO John Krafcik on how Tesla isn't even trying to create a viable robotaxi. If they were, the design of the "cybercab" would be very different.
