SF Standard – Uber taxis will roll onto Market Street against Lurie’s wishes
SF Standard reports that to the surprise of no one, Uber is now planning on also operating vehicles on the Transit Only portion of Market Street.
Robotaxi.news
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Robotaxi.news
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Politics
Cars, being fast moving and heavy, are quite dangerous. They should be well regulated for safety. But it turns out regulations can be bought and paid for by lobbying money…
Read MoreSF Standard – Uber taxis will roll onto Market Street against Lurie’s wishes
Scientific American – Self-Driving Cars Have New Rules in the U.S. Here’s Why That Matters
Scientific American reports that the DoT has changed AV rules for Level 2 vehicles (Tesla FSD, but not Waymo) so that fewer safety incidents need to be reported. Three reporting regulations were also eased: whether the car had been driven in conditions in which it was designed to operate; a plain-language description of the circumstances of the crash; and the version of automated self-driving software that was in use.
SF Examiner – Local robotaxi control law not coming this year
SF Examiner reports on how California state legislators are currently not trying to move forward legislation that would give local jurisdictions the opportunity to regulate robotaxis. Part of the reason is that Mayor Lurie is now trying to welcome Waymos to the transit only portion of Market St instead of trying to regulate them.
CNBC – California overhauling self-driving vehicle regulations governing Waymo, Tesla, Zoox and others
CNBC reports that the California DMV has announced that they are seeking public comment on proposed regulation changes for robotaxis.
The Verge – Trump updates Biden’s robo-car crash reporting rule to benefit Tesla
The Verge reports that even though Tesla announced just awful financials their stock rose 20% on the mistaken believe that reducing regulations will help Tesla's robotaxi venture. The real problem is their lack of a working technology, not regulations.
San Francisco Chronicle – S.F. has a smart plan to improve Market Street. Waymos aren’t part of it
SF Chronicle op-ed on how Waymos will not improve Market St, but instead make it worse.
SF Standard – Uber threatens to sue San Francisco over Waymo access to Market Street
SF Standard reports that Mayor Lurie has opened up a can of worms with his proposal to allow Waymos on the transit only portion of Market Street.
SF Standard – Lurie gives Waymo the keys to Market Street. People are furious
SF Standard reports that San Francisco Mayor Lurie giving Waymo access to transit-only portion of Market Street is uniting many groups in opposition. It is especially galling that this is occurring at the same time Lurie is causing major cuts to public transit on Market Street.
SF Examiner – Why Market Street isn’t Waymo’s final frontier in SF
SF Examiner reports that Waymo might look to expand onto additional streets of San Francisco that are currently for transit only.
Mission Local – How did Waymo get onto Market Street?
Mission Local reports on what an incredibly bad idea it would be for Mayor Lurie to allow Waymo robotaxis onto the downtown Transit Only portion of Market St.
Streetsblog – Advocates Denounce Mayor Lurie’s Decision to Allow Waymo on Market Street
The organizations Kid Safe, SFBC, Transit Riders, and Walk SF denounce San Francisco Mayor Lurie's plans to allow Waymo robotaxis on Market Street while simultaneously cutting transit.
SF Chronicle – Mayor Lurie to allow Waymo on S.F.’s car-free Market Street
SF Chronicle reports that King Lurie has decreed that public transit on Market Street shall be replaced by Waymo robotaxis.
SF Examiner – How many Waymos are in SF? Good luck getting a straight answer
SF Examiner reports that Waymo continues to be incredible when it comes to working with cities and revealing even basic data, like the number of vehicles they operate in a city.
KXAN – Austin Police Department officers move Waymo vehicles pulled over during severe weather
KXAN reports that the Austin Police Department had to move a bunch of Waymo "autonomous" vehicles that couldn't handle the weather and pulled over where they blocked traffic. Not exactly autonomous, are we Waymo??
TechCrunch – What Tesla can and can’t do in California with its new passenger transportation permit
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.
